Mind of a Human, Heart of a TARDIS
by wolfchic011
Summary: In 1942, a child destined to die at Auschwitz stumbled into a TARDIS and forever changed the fate of the Time Lords. 64 years later, the Doctor begins to realize he's not as alone as he thought. 9th-10th Doctor Rose Tyler. Bad Wolf inside.
1. Prolouge: An Unexpected Companion

I just finished season 2 of DW and decided to write this fic as a little tribute to Rose and the Doctor. It will probably turn into a Doctor/Rose at some point but then again it might not. I still haven't decided how I feel about them as a couple. Oh well, in the meantime enjoy the story!

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><p>Prologue<em>: An Unexpected Companion<em>

_**Be strong, be clever, be resourceful. And above all, remember to always look forward but consider the path you left behind.** _

_Those are the words I live by. The last words my mother ever said to me. The last memory I have of the world I came from. With those words, my journey began._

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><p><strong>1942, Auschwitz-Birkenau, Poland <strong>

The handshake was firm, unforgivable. "Many thanks, Herr." He nodded at the speaking officer and pulled his hand free with a small wince.

"My pleasure, Officer. Just use it sparingly, it's very strong."

The SS officer nodded and raised his right arm in response. "Hiel Hitler!" he cried.

With a polite nod of his head and a smile indicating he had no intention of "hieling" anyone, he turned and walked away leaving the man to his slow death by guilt and alcohol abuse.

Snow blew harshly past as he stalked through the courtyard and he buried his neck into his thin collar to avoid the flakes. He saved his hands from facing the cold by shoving them deep into his large pockets. His feet however, were not as lucky. The white stuff had piled up a good four inches or so, making him have to stop momentarily to scoop it out of the rims of his boots. His fingers numbed as he fumbled to keep the wet from falling onto his feet. Good Lords, how did this stuff get everywhere?

Snow mostly gone, he straightened and flicked his fingers to get the icy water off of them. Horrible stuff. He was immensely grateful that he would soon be able to leave this all behind. This and all these life-forms doomed to die.

As he resumed walking, the side of his neck began to itch. But it wasn't a normal itch. This one was lighter, less obvious. It danced across his skin like someone blowing on his neck. He stopped cold as the snow around him. He knew what this meant. He was being watched…

He turned slowly, his fingers delicately brushing the plasma blaster hidden beneath his coat, strapped to his hip. The yard was empty, except for a young woman standing in the far corner. She was so far away, he couldn't tell the expression on her face. Not that it mattered. He already knew everything he needed to know about her. She was not very old, she was not a threat and she would not live very much longer. Her time was almost up. In a matter of minutes she would be dead. It was a dramatic death too… all fire and light and the pain of release… He shook his head and her future faded in his mind. She mattered little. And he had made sure her last moments would be that much more quick and painless…

He kept walking until he reached the railroad tracks on the far edge of the courtyard. A train was coming in, filling the air with smoke and the desperate lack of futures that flowed from the cattle cars. He cringed at the onslaught and burrowed deeper into his collar, trying to block it all out. To stop knowing the pain and anguish that came from and would come from this place. All the futures suffocating. Starving. Despairing. Dying. He shivered. It was high time he left this pit of despair.

The man stepped up to an archway off the side of the tracks that in faded letters declared: _Train this Way._ No one was near it. In fact, many did not even seem to realize it was there. They bustled right past it, probably assuming it was the old station that had been disused due to age and lack of proper maintenance. Digging his hand in his pocket he pulled out a long, thin piece of metal that glowed red on one end. He quickly traced the red light around the archway then stepped through it. Once he crossed the threshold, the stone and bleak surroundings melted away to reveal the interior of his TARDIS.

He took a deep breath as all the time-lines of the place outside faded away. His head was somewhat clear again. Shrugging off his damp coat, he threw it over the railing and set to work. He walked slowly around the circular dashboard and core in the center of the main room, pulling a lever here, adjusting a dial there.

"Wake up my sweet, time to go…" He crooned softly to the mechanisms. As he worked, the engine below slowly came to life. The deck under his feet began to vibrate, the long thin core in the center of the console became soft red in color as the pistons began to move.

A chorus of screams sounded from outside but he kept pulling levers, pushing buttons, preparing for flight.

He'd done what he'd come to do, the rest was up to this planet's inhabitants. With a final press of a white button, the machine began to move in full. With a smooth humming and clanking of gears and a tell-tale whine, the machine sprang into flight.

He set his coordinates and leaned back in the pilot's seat. He had about an hour to kill before he reached 823 years in the past on Gallifrey. Might as well make the most of it. He kicked his damp boots up onto the dashboard as the TARDIS rocked soothingly back and forth. He'd just rest… rest and mull over his own future… his own problems… his own…

On the other side of the core, something moved. In less time than it took to blink, he was on his feet, his blaster primed and ready, aimed at the threat. He moved soundlessly around the console behind the muzzle of his weapon. What could have possibly gotten inside his machine? Hadn't he locked it? Was it a lone dalek? Was he under attack?

But it wasn't a dalek. Crouched behind the TARDIS's railing, half hidden in the shadow of a column was a human child.

His resolve faltered. "How in the..?" Wary but now curious, he crept towards the thing. It scuttled back until it was hidden entirely by the shadows, one of its hands closed around something in a fist. As it moved he suddenly realized it was female.

He slowly stepped closer, trying not to startle the thing. She couldn't have been older than seven. She was small and scrawny with a scrappy collection of fair hair that was shaved to a thin stubble on her head. Her only clothing was in tatters and soggy with snowmelt. And the human was dirty, so dirty. Her hands were red and chapped with cold and her face was smudged with coal dust or dirt. He could see tearstains cutting through the mess on her cheeks. But she was not crying now. Now she stared at him fearlessly from the shadows, her eyes hard and her nose dripping. He carefully replaced his blaster in its holster, he had a feeling he wouldn't need it even if she did attack.

"How did you get in here?" He asked. She did not reply. Her fist tightened around the thing in her hand. Her eyes unblinkingly followed his every move.

He crouched next to her so they were at the same level. She shied back slightly but stared hardly at him, wary but unafraid.

He was intrigued. "I promise I won't hurt you." He said. "Who are you?"

The girl appeared to consider the question. She drew a deep breath, her tiny chest rising noticeably with the effort. "Ksenia." She finally whispered. "M'name's Ksenia. Who're you?"

The Time Lord scratched his chin as he considered the question. How to handle this?

He couldn't take her back to her own time. That would cross his own time-stream a little too closely for comfort. Besides they were already in flight. He couldn't change the pattern now. Like it or not, she was going to Gallifrey. But to keep her with him..?

He sat back on his heels and considered the girl. A mere scrap, hardly worth a second look. A prisoner, destined to die and yet… here she was. Somehow still alive and inside his TARDIS. She watched him with wide, wary eyes as he examined her life.

She wouldn't live long: half a century if he dropped her somewhere else on Earth, half an hour if he took her back to her own time, no time at all if he let her set foot on Gallifrey. He looked away to break the vision. He could see it all: her timeline was short, muddled, her past had been bleak and uneventful, her future was all consumed by an endless, futile task that would eventually kill her…

She shifted slightly and he looked at her again. But her eyes… her eyes were so captivating... At first glance they were nothing special: a light gray, almost ugly in color if it hadn't been so delicate. They were almost transparent, like looking at water. But under that... He blinked in confusion and peered harder.

_No..._

Deep in her eyes, hiding behind the clear facade that shouldn't have been able to hide anything... under that there was another time-stream. He leaned in and looked even closer. She blinked once but didn't break his gaze. Their faces were barely an inch apart.

He searched the orbs before him. Yes, there was something there. Something deep inside that glowed like the fires of Gallifrey. If set on the right path…. she showed promise. As the thought crossed his mind, her future changed. The short, muddy path became a staircase of gold. He drew a sharp intake of breath. She may be human but her future…. It could stretch endlessly before him, disappearing into the mists of time.

As her stream twisted away into oblivion before him, he was struck by a sudden idea. She could be useful.

He sat back on his heels and smirked. "I'm the Architect, Ksenia. And I think I could use someone like you." He held out his hand to her. "Come now. I've got something to show you…"

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><p>I just want to say here that reviews are greatly appreciated.<p> 


	2. A New Companion

Thanks to Megamafan16 for the review! I know neither of the tagged characters have appeared yet but give me some time and I promise they will! In fact... well read on and find out!

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><p><em>A New Companion<em>

Why did he go back? Why had he said hello?

He could have let her die that night in the basement. She had blundered in and ruined his plan. So many had died because of him already. So why her? Why couldn't he have let her alone?

Maybe it had been the way her time stream clouded that had fascinated him. It didn't simply end… it just vanished. Like something he couldn't …no something he was forbidden to see. It split his head open to try to read her future. Trying to see what her future held hurt worse than trying to look into his own.

But all those thoughts fled his mind as the Autons cornered her and she closed her eyes, ready to die, helpless. Without a second thought, he had grabbed her hand. He had whispered that word. _Run._ And from that moment on, his life was linked irrevocably to hers. Her strand twisted impossibly tightly around his own and was swallowed by the oblivion that kept him from seeing his own future. He could not see her future anymore.

He had tried to keep his distance. She was just another human. Just another person he'd have to leave behind eventually. He should have just kicked her outside and left it at that; no connections, no complications, no pain. And by Gallifrey, he had completely intended to. But something made him turn around and introduce himself. Something made him ask her her name: Rose.

No harm in knowing her name. He set it up so she could assume he had died that night in the explosion. He could just leave and she'd never think of him again, except as that strange, crazy man with big ears who had blown up her job. She would be safe.

Then the signal had led him right back to her, right into her home. He'd hidden how shocked he was, intending to make a quick escape but she had other plans. Rose Tyler, he learned, didn't like to take no for an answer.

So he had done what he'd come to do: squash out the signal. And he'd left again, pushing her away as carelessly as he could manage, ignoring the pang in his left heart every time she called after him, begging him not to run. But he had to keep her away. Even though his right heart jumped every time she touched him so familiarly, as if she had known him her whole life. As if she trusted him. Even though, when her hand was in his, the universe grew quiet. The racket in his head was dimmed to a manageable roar. And she was so… different from the other humans. She argued with him, sassed him, kept him on his toes. She laughed with him. And yet she was just that: human. How could she possibly understand? How could she share his life?

So he told her to forget. And he left. He could've erased her memories, made her forget that she had ever seen him, kept her safe. But he couldn't. He couldn't bring himself to touch her like that. Not after she had looked at him like that. Not after holding her hand so familiarly and speaking of his deepest awareness. The path he walked alone. The last of the Time Lords.

He should have known that wouldn't be the end of it.

Then the TARDIS had taken him right back to her because she was in danger. It had never fixed on another being like that before. It was like the machine couldn't get its heart off of the girl. Almost as if it wanted her with him. It wanted to protect her too.

So he had saved her again and shown her his living machine. Rationally, he thought once the machine saw her, it would lose this unconventional obsession with the girl. But under that, he wanted to see her reaction to his occupation. Something in him wanted to know her at least for awhile before he said goodbye again for the last time. He hadn't meant to give her her first trip in the TARDIS, it had just kind of happened. He had been too worried about losing the signal.

At first he'd regretted that she'd tagged along. All she did was obsess over that kid Ricky or whatever while he was busy trying to figure this out. She barely even seemed to care that he was not of this world. She wasn't in awe of him, she wasn't repulsed by him, she wasn't even impressed by him. All she did was argue and question him. It drove him mad. Before long, his anger had boiled to the surface and he was shouting at her. He **never **shouted. What was it about her that got to him like this? One minute they were engaged in a shouting match the next, laughing at their own brilliance in finding the transmitter.

And on the bridge his hand had shot out of its own accord and found hers again. A perfect fit.

He realized he was beginning to grow fond of her company. But he knew it couldn't last. He'd have to say goodbye before long.

Then she had saved his life. She had been indispensible in finding and flushing out the living-plastic Nestene Consciousness. He'd told her to run and instead she'd fought back. Not many creatures facing the end of their world would have been able to do that. He and the entire planet would have been dead without her. It would have been downright rude not to offer her the choice after that. So he had and she'd refused. Relieved yet resistant, he had left yet again, conditioning his thoughts to the fact that he would never see her again. He would never again hold her hand or feel her so close to him. She would be long dead the next time he returned. She had chosen, she would be safe. But the TARDIS again would not let him leave her. So he extended one last offer knowing she couldn't refuse this one: "Did I mention it also travels in time?"

And to his delight and concern, she had run to him.

Resist though he had, the blonde had worked her way into his life.

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><p>I might be absent for awhile due to something called exams... I'll be thinking longingly of this story and my others the whole time though.<p> 


	3. The Time of Deception

Way too short for the amount of time I spent away from this. Hopefully though, updates will be a little more regular, at least until exams roll around again…

Thanks for the reviews!

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><p><em><span>The Time of Deception<span>_

The Architect paced nervously outside the door. It was taking too long, way too long… He ran one hand over his head, his hand catching in his thick, tight curls.

If this went wrong… if it didn't go off at just the right time… if…!

But.

He stopped abruptly, his boots making a squeaking noise on the floor. Then he smirked. No, he was being stupid. This was _his_ invention. _His _work. Everything would be fine.

One hand slid inside his pocket and withdrew the interface device. He turned it slowly in his hand. No problems. No complications. No issues. Just like always. Flawless.

So why was he worried? He slid the device away again and resumed pacing, boots clomping on the floor, hands clasped tightly behind his back. Maybe it was this room. This corridor. Just the feel of being here again. The smells that always seemed to be filling his nostrils permeating the air. The noises from the other wards that rang in his ears day and night. The last time he had stood in this hallway… waiting for the words… for news…

The door finally opened and he immediately froze. His hearts were racing and he breathed shakily to calm himself as the Medic approached him. He didn't move as the man stopped, examining a medical scanner in his hand. After a few minutes in which the man ignored him however, he grew impatient. "Well?" He asked gruffly.

The Medic sighed and looked up. "She's fine… everything seems to be normal… she's just _incredibly_ weak…" He shrugged noncommittally. "I'm afraid there won't be much hope for her." His tone was flat, uncaring. Some things are just not meant to live.

The words struck a strange chord in the Architect's left heart that he ignored as best he could.

"No, she can still be useful." He protested. "She told me she's the Tool. Every tool has its use, even a weak one. I'll train her, I'll take her on."

The Medic eyed him for a moment than nodded sadly. "She's on you then." He said and handed the other Time Lord the hand-held scanner. The Medic's hand caught on the Architect's own as he accepted the device. "Good luck." He walked away to tend to his other patients.

The Architect waited stiffly until the other had walked down the hall before entering the room.

The girl looked up as he entered. They had taken her clothes. But she still wore that necklace. She sat on the examination table among all the instruments, bare legs nowhere near touching the floor. Her tiny, starved, _human_ frame stared back at him in sharp relief against the white walls of the medical ward. The eyes that held such contradictions followed his path as he crossed the room to her. He stopped in front of her and looked down.

"Well?" She asked.

The Architect gently placed the scanner down on one of the shelves next to the table. Then he gripped her bare shoulders and stared into her eyes. The clear facade stared back, utterly unafraid. He smiled to himself. He had made the right choice.

"You no longer answer to your name." He told her. "From now on, you are the Tool. You have always been the Tool, my Tool. And you are a Time Lord."

The Tool smiled.


	4. Turmoil and the End of the World

Just so you know, I'm not planning on writing the entire Rose arc in this way. I don't think any of us has the patience for that, nor do I have the mental and emotional stamina to do that at this time. So I'll resort to a few personal favorites to tell this story.

This episode holds a special place in my heart because it was the first one I ever saw and it left such an impression on me that I went looking for others and began my Doctor Who journey. Enjoy!

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><p><em><span>Turmoil and the End of the World<span>_

How had it all come to this? He stood in front of a giant wind-turbine, trying to reach a switch that might save their lives as the automated clock cheerily counted down to their demise. The events of the last half-hour spun through his mind at full speed, certain moments standing out just long enough for him to briefly relive them…

_...The TARDIS ground to a halt as he rang the bell for effect. _

"_Where are we?" She asked, voice trembling with excitement. He only gestured to the door with a flourish. She was going to love this._

_She glanced at the door and back. "What's out there?" She asked, her voice jumping with excitement. He only gestured again, inviting her to see for herself. With a coy glance over her shoulder she stepped outside. He gave her a second on her own to take it all in before following. She looked somewhat unimpressed with the white walls and small room but he wasn't done yet. He waved his sonic at the door panel, setting the shade to lower. She grew still as the light flooded the room, revealing the planet below._

_He folded his arms as he reached her side. "You lot. You spend all your time thinking about dying…" He said to her as they watched the planet. "Like you're gonna get killed by eggs, or beef, or global warming, or asteroids…But you never take time to imagine the impossible. Maybe you survive."_

_She was quiet still. He didn't think she'd ever gone this long without talking. He filled the silence instead._

"_This is the year 5.5/apple/26, five billion years in your future." He told her. "And this is the day…" He checked his watch. "Hold on…" She watched him as he waited a few seconds. Right on cue, a huge burst of orange light raced across the sky. Her eyes widened as space turned to fire._

"_This is the day the sun expands…." He said, trying to contain his excitement. He turned to her. "Welcome to the end of the world." _

_Rose looked at him sharply, and then turned back to the planet, watching the sun grow larger and larger preparing to swallow the Earth. He smirked happily. She was speechless…._

...…_He sat down across from her on the stairs in the private viewing gallery. "What'd you think then?" He asked._

"_Great! Yes. Fine." She replied in a somewhat higher voice than normal. "Once you get past the… slightly psychic paper…" _

_He chuckled. She was a little put off. He'd finally shown her something that impressed her. The realization gave him a deep, giddy sort of feeling… _

…_."Who are you then Doctor? What are you called? What sort of alien are you?" _

_He tried not to bristle. It wasn't her fault. She didn't know. But he couldn't keep his voice from sharpening with his retort. "I'm just the Doctor." _

_But that wasn't enough for her. "From what planet?" She asked._

"_Well it's not as if you know where it is!" He shot back, trying to laugh it off._

"_Where are you from?" She asked, starting to sound angry._

"_What does it matter?" He responded, all humor gone from his voice. Why did she care so much? She wouldn't know. She didn't need to know. _

"_Tell me who you are!" She demanded, sounding **hurt**. As if she expected him to trust her completely._

_He felt his rage swell. "This is who I am, right here, right now, alright?" He exploded, gesturing angrily. "All that counts is here and now and this is me!" He yelled._

_Rose yelled right back. "Yeah and I'm here too 'cause you brought me here so just tell me!"_

_He stormed away from her. That's what he always did, he just tucked his rage and anger away and ran from the question. Who was he? He knew the answer: A coward. The murder of his people. The Oncoming Storm. A Time Lord without a home. He stood there silently, unable to look at her. She wanted him to open up. How could she understand? Was he to burden her with this? How was he supposed to tell this innocent, wonderful human the truth about himself?_

I am the last of my kind… I fought in a great war… I was the only survivor… I murdered so many…

…_.."I scanned you earlier…" Jabe confessed, her voice trembling. He didn't look at her. "The metal machine had trouble identifying your species… it refused to admit your existence… and even when it named you I wouldn't believe it…but it was right…" He had stopped working on the panel. "I know where you're from…" Jabe whispered. "Forgive me for intruding but… it's remarkable you even exist…." The light from his sonic screwdriver trembled on the screen. "I just want to say… how sorry I am…" She placed her wooden hand on his arm in a comforting gesture. His eyes filled with tears but he did not let them fall…._

… "_Anyone in there?" He called as he started hacking the system with his sonic screwdriver._

"_Let me out!" _

_His breath caught at the voice. "Oh it would be you…" What was Rose doing in there?_

"_Open the door!" She shouted._

"_Hold on give us two ticks…" He continued working for a few a few breathless seconds, broken only by the overhead automated voice and Rose's occasional pounding on the door. _

_Finally the system gave way. "Sun filter rising…. Sun filter rising…" He grinned. Now to open the door…_

_The automated voice changed abruptly. "Sun filter descending… sun filter descending…."_

_He attacked the panel again. "Just what we need…. The computer's getting clever…" It wasn't working. The system wasn't letting him through again._

"_Would you stop mucking about!" Rose yelled through the door._

"_I'm not mucking about, it's fighting back!" He protested, waving his sonic frantically through the security data. This was going to take too long… He'd have to try something else._

"_Open the door!" She called frantically._

"_I know!" He shot back, ripping the paneling apart to get at the wires._

_She didn't have much longer. It was falling too fast. He stuck his sonic right in the mess of wires and something burst with a pop._

"_sun filter rising… sun filter rising…" He let out a gasp of breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding._

_He ran for the door and yanked on it. It didn't respond. He didn't have time to force it open now… she was no more in danger there than she was anywhere else on Platform One right now._

"_The whole thing's jammed… I can't open the door. Stay there! Don't move!" …_

…_...How could he get by? Without holding the lever down, the blades were spinning too fast…_

_They began to slow again. He spun around. Jabe looked up at him from where she leaned heavily on the switch, holding it down. _

_He shook his head. "No, you can't. The heat's going to vent through this place…"_

"_I know." She was all the tree-woman said, her voice laced with a fearful excitement. _

"_Jabe, you're made of wood!" He protested. _

_Jabe only smiled. "Then stop wasting time….. Time Lord."…_

There was a scream behind him, he whirled back and caught sight of a pillar of flame. He had been too slow… Jabe was gone.

His left heart constricted but there was no time now to mourn. He turned back to the turbine. Without the manual override, it was speeding up again, futilely trying to cool the station down. The entire chamber shook with the force of its blades. He took a deep breath and dodged forward, only to be driven back by his fear. It was still picking up speed. There was no way he could get by…

No. He had to… all those people, himself. And Rose… Rose was here too, trapped somewhere she did not belong. Alone… Terrified.

He dodged forward again but again pulled back, both hearts racing in fear the way they had so often in battle. A wave of loathing swept through him. He couldn't do it. But he had too. His eyes traced the turbine's path, looking for a pattern, a gap, anything. There was nothing.

The automated voice rang out above his head: _Planet explodes in… ten… nine… eight…_

He closed his eyes. So this was it. A leap of faith. The world slowed, everything was quiet, even the countdown seemed slower.

But he wasn't thinking about that. He was thinking about her. Rose Tyler. He tried to look ahead, to see anything. Something about himself, about her. Were they meant to die here? He ignored all the discomfort as he pushed the ability of his sight to its furthest distance, looking desperately along his own time-stream. Had he condemned her to an early death? Why was she all he could see when he tried to see himself? _Rose_. The one who shared his future but was never with him… the impossible companion. The golden-haired human. A distant love…. A wall. An unknown future that stretched into the golden mists of the unknown. So little time. So many choices. But her. Always her.

He had to believe in **her**.

He opened his eyes and found the switch staring back at him. He had crossed the turbine.

Sometime later, when the crisis had been (for the most part averted) he stood face to face with the Last Human, letting her die in the most painful way.

There was a soft voice by his side. "Help her…" Rose pleaded.

His voice was like iron as he responded. "Everything has its time and everything dies." But her voice had struck him to his very core. He could stop. She wanted him to stop. Why didn't he stop?

Cassandra burst apart, her skin flying all over the room. But he felt no satisfaction. Rose's gentle plea had killed all his battle-fervor. Disgusted with himself, he didn't look at Rose as he left the room. But as soon as he was out of her sight his hearts constricted painfully. How could she bear to be with him now? After what he had just done? After what he had put her through today? She was going to leave… He sank against the wall, shaking uncontrollably. What kind of monster had the Time War made him into?

When he had calmed down, he returned to the viewing room to find Rose alone, gazing up at the floating chunks of rock that had been her home planet. Her voice broke as she mourned the loss. He watched the rocks drift by, thinking of another planet that had burned not so long ago for him.

But the Earth wasn't gone. Not in the same way. He held out his hand. "Come with me." He said gently. He expected her to shy away. To be repulsed by him. But she took his hand without hesitation, her palm sliding perfectly into his. He led her back to the TARDIS and gave her the opportunity he'd never had: the chance to walk on her home planet again after she had seen it destroyed.

He told her who he was. There was no way the knowledge could make things worse than they already were. She had seen the kind of monster he was. But she didn't leave. She clung tighter. He gave her another choice. He would always give her the choice, he realized. Why would she want to stay with him: the murderer, the vengeful Time Lord so torn apart by war and loss he could watch himself kill someone without feeling anything?

But she looked at him with eyes so clear, so free of judgment. Like she saw something that she couldn't let go of, not even for a second. She took his hand and stayed by his side. And for the first time in a long time, he didn't feel so alone.

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><p>Platform one was empty. Everyone had left and the station was shutting itself down for maintenance. Outside the window, the molten chunks of the Earth drifted by, scattered through space to form new planets, burn in new stars, form new comets and constellations.<p>

In the long viewing room where the Doctor and his companion has been standing only a few minutes before, the lights were beginning to dim and flicker out as repair protocol 1 took over.

A figure strode out from the shadows and stood by the window in the light of the burning sun. It was motionless, positioned by the window but it wasn't watching the sun. It was looking around the room, searching. Waiting. They stood completely motionless for several minutes as the lights in the room continued to fade out.

No one else was on the station so no one could've seen what happened next. The figure vanished into thin air without a trace. Without a whisper.

Outside the window, the expanding sun burned.

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><p>So many questions in the Doctor's mind. I always felt like this episode was great at showing the early turmoil Nine faced when dealing with his past and his relationship with Rose. I hope I captured his inner self a little better than last time. I always find it hard to write really good actors because I can't always tell exactly what's going through their minds and it bothers me.<p>

Next chapter will be up in a week or so and we will be back on Gallifrey with the Architect and his new charge. If I can finish my term papers that is….


	5. The Time of the Test

As I was writing this chapter, I began to realize just how much the music from Doctor Who has influenced the tone of my writing. So here's a list of all the wonderful creations of Murray Gold's that have been my inspiration thus far:

Song for prologue: The original idea for this scene came from several different pieces but the one that stood out the most to me was "The Doctor's Theme" theme from Series 4

Song for chapter 1: "Doomsday"/"Rose's Theme" (Series 1 and 2)

Song for chapter 2: in all honesty, I didn't have a specific inspirational song for this part but I did have "Madame de Pompadour" (Series 2) on repeat most of the time I was writing it so maybe some of that seeped in somewhere…

Song for chapter 3: "The Doctor's Theme" (from Series 1 and 2)

Song for this chapter: "This is Gallifrey, Our Childhood, Our Home" (Series 3)

Enjoy!

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><p><em><span>The Time of the Test<span>_

"Here." He handed her the glasses.

The Tool turned them over slowly in her hands. "What are these for?" she asked as she examined them.

He replaced his sonic screwdriver on his worktable before responding. "I told you if you worked hard, you'd get a reward. " The Architect said. "This is that reward."

She looked up at him, eyes wide and questioning. He only glanced back down at the glasses and crossed his arms, waiting. She looked down and back up again. She fiddled thoughtfully with the eye-wear. After a few seconds, it clicked and her face lit up like Gallifrey's first sun. He rolled his eyes. Human minds, so slow to grasp the simple. Without another word, the Tool slipped the glasses on and ran out the door.

He stood to watch her through the window as she took her first steps out onto Gallifrey. She went slowly, if her short life back on Earth had taught her anything it was to tread carefully. But once she was out there, flexing her toes in the red soil, gazing in wonder at the silver leaves on the trees, the distant spires of the citadel dazzlingly lit by the twin suns, everything cautious about her faded away. She crouched in the soil and slowly let the fine red grains run through her fingers. He braced his shoulder on the window sill as he watched her trace patterns in the dirt, peering at her creations through the thick glasses that protected her eyes from the light of the suns.

She had recovered well these past few months in his care: she no longer looked starved but was still thin as a stick (it certainly didn't help that her human body couldn't digest most of the Gallifreian cuisine). She had put on a bit of muscle while doing various jobs for him but was still nowhere near matching Time Lord strength. She tired of the soil and dashed across the ground, her newly-grown hair hanging around her ears in an uneven dirty-blonde wave that tossed back and forth as she ran. She was fast for a human, average for a Time Lord.

He turned away from the window as she began to climb one of the trees, probably to get a better look at the city he'd told her so much about. She wanted to go there of course. She wanted to go everywhere she saw, everywhere he mentioned. The only problem was, until today she hadn't been able to leave his rooms or his TARDIS without risk of death or discovery. But he'd fixed that.

He smirked as he shuffled his blueprints of her around his worktable. That project had been quite a challenge. And some of his best work so far. First he'd implanted her throat and nostrils with bacteria cultures to filter the air for her. Next he'd worked on her mind, placing a physic barrier that would hide her lesser thoughts from those around her and give the impression of duel heartbeats resounding from inside her chest instead of just one. Her body had been most difficult to enhance as it was starved and tiny and rejected most of his attempts to chemically alter her hormones. But proper food and exercise had helped the process and eventually he had a convincing Time Lord child on his hands.

She was spunky though. Keeping her locked away inside for the last two months while he prepared her for life on Gallifrey had been the most trying time of his long life. Her constant company had been far from soothing even though she was sensible and quickly learned when to leave him alone. Today, he'd finally reached the final step in her primary upgrade: glasses that would protect her weak eyes from the burning suns. His own creation was complete. His Tool.

He heard a thump outside as she fell out of the tree. But there was no cry of pain and a few seconds later he heard her footsteps again. The Architect shook his head and pushed the blueprints from her design to the side. If he ever took her somewhere he'd have to teach her the grace and surety of a Time Lord. At least as much of it as a human could learn.

Under the several sheets he'd used to craft his Tool lay the designs he had been working on before she'd stumbled into his life: altering the stabilizer on his hip plasma blaster. If he could get the mechanism to self-cool, he could fire several shots in quick succession instead of waiting several seconds for the mechanisms to cool.

He drew his blaster from its normal place on his hip and placed it on the workbench. A pair of magnifiers was pulled down over his eyes and he took up his screwdriver again.

As he worked, his mind returned to an issue it had often pondered these last few months: he'd never figured out how she'd gotten inside. He was sure he'd locked the door when he'd left to meet the SS Officers. There was no way she could have slipped inside when he had opened the door himself, she had to have entered before he did.

The TARDIS had given him nothing in response to his inquiries. It was strangely silent on the whole issue of the skinny stowaway. Like it refused to acknowledge her.

He sighed and clicked off his screwdriver. He really didn't need to be thinking about this now. He'd figure it out soon enough he decided as he put the screwdriver down and examined his work. The weapon was pieced together rather haphazardly after his tinkering but it would hold up to a test. Not that he needed to test it. It would work. His inventions always worked.

The blaster still slid perfectly into his palm as he hefted it. It was a little heavier but more compact if assembled correctly. He aimed at nothing in particular and primed the plasma generator. It responded immediately, with a high-pitched whine, ready to fire. His right heart beat a little faster. If only he'd had this upgrade at Karn…

But no… no use thinking of what could have been…. He liked this body and everything else that had happened wasn't his fault. He'd followed orders.

There was a shout outside the window and he whipped around.

"Come along now… stop struggling, you'll only make this more difficult." The voice was gruff and unfamiliar.

He quickly stood and strode to the window. His face instantly fell. There were two men in the yard, chasing his Tool like they were trying to corral an animal. Men who were dressed in Academy tunics.

A quick timeline look revealed their chosen names: the Soldier and the Guard. He winced. Military men from the Academy. This couldn't be good. He moved to the door and stepped outside.

The Soldier had caught the Tool by the arm; her skinny wrist looked all but crushed in his enormous hands. The Guard was trying to grab her other arm but she was failing about, avoiding his grasp. Good Tool.

The Architect sent the two Time Lords a mental warning that he was there before he stepped outside. Getting shot for sneaking up on them would only complicate the process.

"Gentlemen," He said calmly as he approached. "Kindly tell me why you are barging onto my property and taking my Tool away by force." The girl looked up at him but he ignored her.

The Soldier turned to him, giving him a quick visual and mental probe to which the Architect kept his thoughts calm and genial. The Soldier was tall and broad-shouldered with short, spiked hair and a face that looked like it had been chiseled from marble only yesterday. His mind was hard and disciplined and easily enraged but not easily persuaded. The Guard was shorter and heavier but equally as strong and set in his ways. The Architect kept his eyes focused on the Soldier but kept the other in his peripherals. Could never be too careful around the military.

The Soldier shifted his grip from the Tool's wrist to her arm. "We're taking her for Initiation." He said gruffly as the Guard took advantage of the Tool's distraction to grab her free arm. The Tool looked from the Guard to the Soldier to the Architect but remained silent.

The Architect folded his arms, hiding his confusion behind humor. "Initiation? Why would you want her for that?" He chuckled. "She's hardly prime stock."

The Soldier's face briefly curled up in a smirk of agreement but quickly reverted back to marble. "Be that as it may, she's of age is she not?" The Architect didn't answer but his smile faded. Indeed she was… eight years old.

The Soldier took his silence for assent. "She's of Gallifrey, no?" The Architect's gaze hardened. He couldn't answer that.

"Then she will be tested." The Soldier said simply and turned to leave the yard.

The Architect slid his hands into his pockets. So this was it.

"What's going on? Where are they taking me?" The Tool asked, struggling vainly against the grip of the Soldier and the Guard. No one paid any attention to her.

"You usually only take those chosen for the Academy." The Architect commented to their retreating backs, unable to curb his curiosity. "Why her?"

The Guard turned back and considered him with a contemptuous look and a barbed mental probe. "That's hardly your concern is it? She's not even your daughter." Then the two men turned and left him alone.

The Architect tried not to glare as they walked away, dragging the girl between them. He could've found out. One flash of his badge and they'd both be tripping over themselves saluting and stuttering out the truth. But he hadn't. Because they were right.

It wasn't his concern. Not anymore, anyway.

The Architect walked back inside, ignoring the child's calls for help. He'd saved her once. He'd done the right thing. He'd given her a chance. There was no reason to meddle further. If she was meant to die, she would die. He had no reason to save her again. His left heart twitched. She wasn't his child.

He reached for his screwdriver to reassemble his blaster but instead his hand closed on the vortex manipulator. He snapped out of his thoughts and looked around. His brow furrowed in confusion. How had he ended up in his TARDIS instead of his workshop?

* * *

><p>Presiding over the Initiation rite was the Lord. Ancient and battle-scarred, he made a huge and commanding presence in his billowing robes and shining ceremonial headdress. The stories claimed he'd had more regenerations than Gallifrey had TARDISs. They told of his victories and sacrifices in history lessons and holidays alike, his past regenerations were all hailed as heroes in their own right. Lord Champion, Lord Sharpshooter, and Lord Time-warrior were a few of the many nicknames of various faces he had possessed over the centuries. He sighed quietly. But those were the old days. With his days of battle behind him, he was now in charge of recruitment for the Academy. All this body had as a title was "the Lord who had watched a thousand children go mad".<p>

_Well, this makes one thousand, two hundred and three._ He counted silently to himself.

The Accomplice approached him and bowed. "The next one is ready Lord."

He gestured with his half-moon staff. "Bring them."

The child was brought forward. It was another female, the eighth one today. The Academy seemed to be accepting more and more students of late, some of whom, in his opinion were not ready for the rigors of the Academy training. But that was not his decision to make. He just tended the Untempered Schism.

This student was tiny and scrawny, the initiation robe that had been lent to her sagged on her shoulders and pooled at her waist just above the belt that was cinched as tight as it could go. There was a strange pair of dark-colored glasses on her eyes. She was trembling. Vaguely, the Lord wondered if the recruiters had plucked her off the streets of the Citadel. She looked completely out of place and in need of a decent meal at the very least. He reached out to her, trying to comfort her nerves with a comforting mental touch. His efforts met a thick wall. The child had sealed herself off.

The Lord held back a wince as he raised his staff. He would not enjoy watching this one go mad. Number 1203.

"Begin." He commanded.

* * *

><p>The Accomplice bowed and gently took the girl's shoulder to guide her forward, keeping his eyes averted from the schism. He stopped when she was mere feet from it and backed away. She stood absolutely still except for how she trembled. The glow washed over her from the strange hole that led nowhere. She wished she could hold her necklace but she couldn't risk them seeing it. They'd almost taken it from her when they'd changed her clothes.<p>

The glasses were removed and the Tool squeezed her eyes shut. Even at night, the light of Gallifrey's suns was too great for her… she would go blind.

"Open your eyes." The Lord commanded. "Look at it."

The Tool took a shaky breath. So this was it. She would never see again.

She opened her eyes.

* * *

><p>From his hiding place behind the rock, the Architect tried to still his mind to avoid detection by the others. Hidden a few dozen feet away as a slightly larger rock, his TARDIS sent him a mental signal that it would hide his presence. He focused on the girl.<p>

They took her glasses and he saw her squeeze her eyes shut. The corner of his mouth twitched. Clever Tool.

She opened her eyes. His hands curled against the rock.

_Run away…_ He pleaded, the words echoing uselessly in his head as they met the mental blockade he had placed in her mind._ Please just run away…_

But she didn't run.

She stared.

* * *

><p>I'm going to try to update more often now that the semester is over.<p> 


	6. Just the Sunlight

I found a deleted scene from this episode that is literally 2 seconds long and contains the hug in this chapter. 2 seconds. Really? www. Youtube watch?v =BDARFSPYOhY&list =PL26A9B88E9354CBCF&index =40&feature = plpp_ video

All the dialogue during the hug and on the walk back to the TARDIS is original.

My friend made me watch The End of Time last night. All emotions have now been locked away in the tiny corner of my brain where they can't break free and turn me into a sniveling mess.

Lucky I wrote most of this before that happened so hopefully it still retains its emotional integrity.

Songs for this chapter: The Daleks and The Lone Dalek (both from series 1 and 2 soundtrack)

* * *

><p><span>Just the sunlight<span>

The Dalek was gone. There was nothing left. The last dalek in existence. Dead.

Rose was standing next to him. Alive.

It was over.

The gun slipped from his grip and suddenly she was in his arms, clutched tight against him.

She was shaking, her breath was heavy and fast on his neck.

He had come so close to losing her. "I'm so sorry." He choked on the words as he spoke into her neck. His arms tightened possessively around her waist. He didn't care that this was wrong; how close he was holding her. Her chest was against his, his face all but buried in her neck, their legs inches away from being tangled hopelessly together. It took him a few seconds to realize she was hugging him back just as tightly.

"I was so scared…" She murmured, her voice trembling. His left heart swelled in compassion as she laid her head on his shoulder. "I thought I was going to die…" Her voice broke on the word.

He held her tighter as she finally started to cry. She was always so strong. "You were fantastic Rose…" He whispered in her ear. "Fantastic…" She had talked the dalek out of killing. She had talked him out of being the monster the Time War had made him.

She sobbed quietly into his shoulder and tightened her grip as well, her hands twisting themselves into his leather jacket. "Thank you Doctor…"

He smiled. Standing here, holding her like this, it was hard to remember where he was, what they had just been through.

Rose sobbed quietly into his shoulder as his memories began to resurface:

* * *

><p>A dalek. Another survivor of the war. Why did it have to be an enemy? Why couldn't it have been another like him?<p>

He shook off the guards that had dragged him from the vault and stalked down the hall. He had to kill it, he had to destroy it. If that thing got out, if it started killing…

A surge of battle-fury filled him taking him back to his days as a soldier. _Throwing grenades, firing bullets, lasers, plasma blasts… watching in satisfaction as daleks screamed and exploded, ripping open, bits of metal flying everywhere… standing over that switch, high above two armies, both their fates resting in his hands… "do it Doctor! Do it now!..." _

"… Doctor."

The voice pulled him back from his thoughts and he turned to face Van Statten.

"This dalek." The billionaire tasted the name like a new kind of truffle. "Is it completely made of metal?"

He shook his head. "The metal's just battle-armor, the real dalek creature's inside." He explained as they filed into the elevator.

"What does it look like?"

He repressed a shudder. "A nightmare." He explained the origin of the daleks to Van Statten and his assistant Goddard making sure to emphasize their complete lack of emotion. But nothing seemed to get through to the pretentious billionaire. If anything he seemed even more intrigued by the thought of having a death machine in his collection. Especially if it was the only death machine of its kind left in the universe.

Several unfortunate turns of events later, he found himself being poked and prodded and scanned and examined like just another specimen. He begged and pleaded but the man just wouldn't listen. At least not until the emergency signal rang out.

Slowly, he raised his head. "Release me if you want to live."

Just as he had predicted, the dalek tore through the base, no one was left alive who crossed its path. Rose was in its path. But she was still alive. As long as she kept running. He clutched desperately to that thought as the dalek marched onward. He knew the fastest, easiest way to stop it: seal the vault. Lock it away until he could destroy it for good. But he couldn't seal the vault, not until Rose was out. If nothing else, he would get her out alive before killing that thing.

He sent it through the weapons testing area. With these weapons, they stood little chance of actually killing the dalek but it would give Rose more time. Time to run. Time to make it above the vault if he had to close it.

The ploy bought little time. The human soldiers didn't listen to his advice and they paid the price. Dozens of men. Dead. He'd had to look away from the screen. It was too similar, this fight and the Time War. A whole battalion brought down by a single dalek.

Van Statten spoke. He sounded terrified, truly terrified. "Perhaps it's time for a new strategy. Maybe we should consider abandoning this place." 200 men. That's how many it took for Van Statten to consider giving up his prized collection.

"Except there's no power to the helipad, sir." Goddard reminded him. "We can't get out."

There was no choice. He'd just have to hope luck was on his side. "… You said we could seal the vault…" He began slowly. There was still time. Maybe he could get Rose out and seal the dalek in…

"It was designed to be a bunker in the event of nuclear war." Van Statten explained as he moved to the computer. "Steel bulkheads can be lowered…"

"There's not enough power," Goddard interrupted. "Those bulkheads are massive!"

"There's emergency power," He reminded her. "We can reroute that to the bulkhead doors."

"We'd have to bypass the security codes, that would take a computer genius!" Goddard protested.

"Good thing you've got me then." Van Statten pointed out, a bit of his former arrogance seeping into his tone.

Apparently the man did have a heart. "You want to help?"

"I don't want to die Doctor, simple as that." No, still just self-absorbed. "Nobody knows this software better than me…" Van Statten claimed as he set to work.

"Sir." Goddard was staring at the screen. The dalek was back.

It stood in the middle of the room, water raining down from the ruptured sprinklers.

"I shall speak only to the Doctor!"

He stepped in front of the screen. "You're gonna get rusty."

"I fed off the DNA of Rose Tyler." It explained. "Extrapolating the biomass of a time traveler regenerated me."

Of course. Dalek regeneration with TARDIS radiation and DNA. A trick they had acquired in the Time War. If this was what a human time traveler could do… what about a Time Lord? "What's your next trick?" He inquired.

"I have been searching for the daleks." It replied.

He nodded and walked around the table to stand closer to the screen. "Yeah, I saw. Downloading the internet. What did you find?"

"I scanned your satellites and radio-telescopes."

"And?"

It paused. "Nothing. Where shall I get my orders now?"

"You're just a soldier without commands." The last survivor of the war.

"Then I shall follow the primary order of dalek instinct: to destroy, to conquer!" It declared.

"What for? What's the point?" It didn't answer. "Don't you see it's all gone? Everything you were, everything you stood for." The two mightiest civilizations in all the universe, reduced to dust.

The dalek spoke slowly. "Then what should I do?"

"Alright then. If you want orders, follow this one." Maybe this could all end. Maybe he wouldn't need more blood on his hands. "Kill yourself."

"The daleks must survive!" It protested.

"The daleks have failed." He shot back. "Why don't you finish the job and make the daleks extinct? Rid the universe of your filth! WHY DON'T YOU JUST DIE?"

It was silent for a moment.

"You… would make a good dalek."

The screen went blank.

He wasn't a senseless killer… he didn't kill because it was fun. He **felt**. Throwing that switch had been the single worst emotional experience of his life, the hardest decision one could be faced with: your people or all of creation. He wasn't a dalek. He was not like that thing. He couldn't be.

There was no longer any doubt in his mind. The decision was already made.

"Seal the vaults."

* * *

><p>"<em>This isn't the best time<em>…"

Like he didn't know that. "Where are you?" He asked as he pounded on the keyboard, scanning through security data.

"_Level 49_." Rose said her voice distorted by the phone connection.

"You've got to keep moving, the vault's being sealed off up at level 46."

"_Can't you stop 'um closing_?"

He hesitated for a fraction of a second. "I'm the one who's closing them. I can't wait and I can't help you. Now for God's sake, run." He stayed on the line but stopped talking. She was going to get through this. For a few endless minutes there was no sound but his fingers on the keys and Rose's labored breath in his ear.

"Done it. We've got power to the bulkheads." Van Statten informed him.

Goddard examined the screen. "The dalek's right behind them."

"_We're nearly there, give us two seconds!_" Rose called through the phone.

"Doctor I can't sustain the power, the whole system is failing." He looked up. She was so close, less than half a floor away. She just needed a little while longer…

"Doctor, you've got to close the bulkheads." Van Statten pleaded.

So this was it. He had to gamble Rose. Her fate rested in his hands. He stared down at the enter key. If he hesitated, it could mean the end of the human race. If he closed it, she might die. Rose or the world.

He couldn't be that selfish. "I'm sorry." He pressed the button.

He stared at the screen, watching the little moving dot that was the dalek. Rose was just in front of it somewhere. He did not pray often as he did not believe in some higher power in the universe but he prayed now. _Come on Rose… come on…_

The dot got closer and closer, it was practically on top of the doorway…

"The vault is sealed." Van Statten said.

He leapt out of his seat. "Rose, where are you? Rose did you make it?" His hearts hammered. She had to… she must have… she….

"_Sorry I was a bit slow_."

Both his hearts abruptly stopped. Her voice crackled in his ear, her breathing heavy.

"_See you then Doctor_." She hadn't made it… he'd locked her in. He'd killed her.

"_It wasn't your fault. Remember that okay? It wasn't your fault_." She was still trying to save him. Still trying to make the murderer into an angel.

"_And d'you know what?_" He listened desperately. Her last words. Words that would be with him forever as he traveled on, her death constantly on his shoulders.

"_I wouldn't have missed it for the world_." Her voice. So clear, so strong, her fear and sorrow betrayed only by a slight tremor at the end. He couldn't move, he could only listen.

Her breathing ceased, she must have moved the phone. But she hadn't hung up, he still heard everything.

The mechanical whirring, the slide of gears. A voice he had heard so many times before, a voice that had chased him across the stars and haunted his dreams for all of time.

"_EXTERMINATE_!"

He ripped the ear piece off. She was gone.

* * *

><p>A few minutes later, Adam reached the control center. He pounced on him immediately.<p>

"You were quick on your feet, leaving Rose behind!"

"I'm not the one who sealed the vault!" He shouted back.

A robotic voice from the t.v. screen interrupted them before the painful truth of Adam's words could really sink in.

"Open the bulkhead, or Rose Tyler dies."

On the screen was the dalek, but he barely recognized it because of who was standing next to it. Alive.

Both his hearts soared as he stumbled forward. "You're alive!"

"Can't get rid of me…" Rose said flatly.

She was upset. Well of course she was. He'd left her to die. "I thought you were dead!" He explained.

"Open the bulkhead!" The dalek cried.

"Don't do it!" Rose called. His face fell. She would die for him. She would sacrifice herself for the good of the human race. It was the only way out. But how could he kill her again?

"What use are emotions," the dalek taunted. "If you will not save the woman you love?"

His gaze hardened. Because it was right. He did love her, he realized. He loved Rose Tyler. The thought of losing her had been too much to bear. Sealing her in the vault had been more difficult than destroying his entire planet. The dalek somehow knew this and was clever enough to use it against him. But he couldn't let it continue. Even one dalek was enough to wipe out the human race.

He turned to Van Statten. "I killed her once." He said hardly. "I can't do it again." He pressed the enter key.

* * *

><p>He steadied the weapon and aimed it at Rose's back. "Get out the way!" He shouted, causing her to turn around. But she didn't move, she just stared at him.<p>

"Rose, get out the way now!" He commanded.

He was going to blast that thing back into hell. It would finally all be over.

"No. Cause I won't let you do this." She said gently.

"That thing killed hundreds of people!" Why couldn't she just move? Just let him end it?

"He's not the one pointing the gun at me." Rose pointed out.

His anger slipped, just a bit. "I've got to do this!" He protested. "I've got to end it. The daleks destroyed my home, my people. I've got nothing left!" But who was he trying to convince? Rose or himself?

Rose was shaking her head. "But look at it…" She moved aside slightly but not enough for him to get a clear shot.

The creature sat there basking in the sunlight, oblivious to everything but the warmth. "What's it doing?"

As he watched, one tentacle stretched desperately upwards, waving in the light.

"It's the sunlight, that's all it wants." Rose told him her voice taking on a hint of pleading.

A death machine, a dalek's only wish was sun and warmth? "But it can't…"

"It couldn't kill Van Statten, it couldn't kill me, it's changing." Rose said. "What about you Doctor?" She asked tentatively. He finally looked at her. "What the hell are you changing into?" Her face was a mix of horror, disgust and pity.

His breath caught in his throat. She honestly believed he was good. She thought him decent, caring and gentle. Everything he wasn't. But no, he realized. He was those things. To her. She had changed him. She had taken that angry, damaged coward from the greatest war of all time and turned him into… himself.

But the moment he'd seen the dalek that had all disappeared. Vanished beneath the pain of remembering the Time War and realizing it was not yet won.

The gun slipped and dangled loosely by his side. What had he done?

"I couldn't…" Her look didn't change. He glanced back at the dalek. It was sitting there: vulnerable, weak, pathetic. It was no longer even capable of killing. And he had been ready to blast it away without a second thought. Just like a dalek.

"I wasn't…" His voice was breaking. He met Rose's eyes, ashamed. He expected her to hate him, to turn away and leave him there. But there was no judgement in her eyes. Only pity. She stared back at him, searching for the man she knew, the man she cared about. The man she couldn't see now. He was never going to raise a gun on another creature again. Not if it made Rose see him like this.

"Oh Rose, they're all dead."

The dalek spoke in a slow sickly voice. "Why… do we… survive…?"

"I don't know." He said. He really didn't. He didn't deserve to survive.

* * *

><p>He returned to the present. It was over. The Time War was finally over. Rose was in his arms.<p>

They had been embracing for quite awhile. This was bordering on something more than mere relief. Reluctantly, he let go and stepped back. Rose wiped her eyes, seeming a little embarrassed at her display of emotion.

"Let's go." He said, starting to walk away. She caught up and slipped her hand hesitantly into his. He knew he shouldn't but he squeezed and held on.

Hand in hand, they silently made their way back to floor 53 and the TARDIS, dodging the worst of the carnage by taking back corridors and stairs. The Doctor let go of her hand and gently stroked the box as they approached. "A little piece of home… Better than nothing."

"Is that the end of it?" Rose asked. "The Time War?"

He nodded. "I'm the only one left… I win." He said bitterly. "How 'bout that?"

"The dalek survived. Maybe some of your people did too." Rose consoled but he heard the hopelessness in her voice.

He shook his head. "I'd know… in here. Feels like there's no one." The great, echoing loneliness than was always there. His mind had not touched another in what seemed like forever.

"Well than, good thing I'm not going anywhere." Rose smiled at him.

He tried to smile back. "Yeah."

Adam ran up, duffel bag in hand. "We'd better get out. Van Statten has disappeared and they're closing down the base. Goddard says they're going to fill it full of cement, like it never existed."

"'Bout time." Rose said.

"I'll have to go back home." The boy said sounding dejected.

"Better hurry up then." He checked his watch. "Next flight to Ethro leaves at 1500 hours."

Rose spoke up. "Adam was saying that, all his life he wanted to see the stars…" He didn't like what her smile suggested.

"Time to go and stand outside then."

"He's all on his own Doctor, and he did help."

"He left you down there!" He protested.

"So did you." She pointed out, renewing the sting of guilt that refused to leave him alone.

"What are you talking about? We have to leave!" Adam told them.

He examined the boy. "Plus, he's a bit pretty…" He observed.

"I hadn't noticed…" Rose shot back.

He sighed. "On your own head…"

He ignored Adam as he opened the door and set the coordinates for a new location, far away from here. He ignored the fire that flared in his stomach as Rose took the boy's hand to show the dumbfounded kid around. He tried not to glare at their retreating backs as they walked out of the console room.

He didn't like that kid. His nonchalance, his ambition, his general treatment of his Rose… _Rose_ he reminded himself. Just Rose. It didn't bode well with him.

Still, maybe this was just what they needed now… a buffer. Something to stop him from grabbing her and never letting go.

_That was just because I almost lost her… I'll control myself in the future… next time she's in danger…_

But no. There couldn't even _be_ a next time. He _would_ keep her out of danger. But still, the universe had an odd way of making even the most mundane and ordinary things dangerous around him.

Jackie Tyler's parting words came back to him: _"What if she gets lost? What if something happens to you Doctor and she's left all alone standing on some moon a million light-years away? How long do I wait then?"_

He flipped on the vortex manipulator. Maybe he'd better build some emergency programs into the TARDIS… just in case he needed to send her out of danger.

A rush of protectiveness swept though him, so strong it set both his hearts burning and filled him with a deep, unsettling worry. He'd almost caused Rose's death today. That would never happen again.

Nothing would ever harm her again. He would not lose her.


	7. The Time of Learning

I am (somewhat) happy to report that I have officially finished season 6 of Doctor Who!

And as a result, my fellow Whovian LightBender and I have started a joint story called The Doctor's Army. It's posted through my account.

Now I know you're all anxious to hear about the Tool so read on and find out!

Songs for this chapter: After the Chase (Series 3) and Seeking the Doctor (Series 1 and 2)

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><p><em><span>The Time of Learning<span>_

"You're doing it again."

He blinked. "Doing what?"

The girl shuffled her feet. "Staring at me."

He glared. "No, you just seem to like sitting in my line of vision."

She ducked her head. "Sorry." She returned to her current task of studying Time Lord physiology.

Several tense moments passed.

He sighed. "Did you have a reason for interrupting me?"

She nervously brushed a long lock of hair behind her ear. "I just had a question." She said timidly.

"Well go on then."

She paused, her finger stuck to a spot on the page. "It says here… Time Lords have two hearts?"

He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Yes."

"Oh." She was silent after that. What kind of a question was that?

The Architect tried to return to his work: blueprints for an aerial deployment mechanism of plasma grenades but something was nagging him. He glanced back at her. She had one hand pressed to her chest, as if she was feeling for something. He recognized the look in her eyes.

"Is it too much?"

She jumped a little and turned back to him. "No… No I'm fine." But her face was pale. Her pupils were completely dilated.

He stood and crossed the distance between their desks in a few long strides. "Come here."

She obeyed, laying the book to the side as she slid off her chair to meet him. She was still so short that he had to crouch to be at her eye level. With well practiced ease, she pulled her hair away from her face and presented her temples to him. He gripped her head between his hands and closed his eyes.

He sensed the question in her mind before it fell from her lips. "Is there any way you could..?"

"Growing an entire organ is difficult and complicated, not to mention messy." He replied, completely focused on his activities in her head. "Also your chest cavity is too narrow."

"Right…"

She flinched as he touched a sensitive spot. He immediately slowed his probing.

"If I were a Time Lord." She began. "A proper Time Lord. Would I be able to handle it?"

He gently left her mind and lowered his hands. "It would be easier to contain. But not necessarily easier to handle." He stood and walked back to his desk.

"Thank you." She mumbled.

He didn't acknowledge that he had heard her. But presently, as they both settled back to their work, his eyes were once again drawn to her.

The Tool sat at a spare desk in the corner of the workshop opposite his own. Her legs dangled a full foot off the ground. She leaned forward slightly over the enormous book balanced on the desk, peering intently at words she traced slowly with her finger. At least she had finally learned to read New Gallfreian and didn't have to annoy him by moving her lips or asking him to translate a word every minute. Apparently there was still room in her tiny head to learn.

He knew he should have let her die. Gallifrey had no place for a weak Time Lord, let alone a weak, fake one. She should have died. She was meant to die.

But he couldn't just let her die. She had looked into the schism and survived. Collapsed but survived. She had **seen** something. Something no Time Lord would have seen.

She shifted and a flicker of pain briefly passed through her eyes. But it didn't linger so he left her alone. Her screams still woke him some nights. But she never said a word. Never mentioned anything she feared, any nightmare that plagued her still from whatever she had seen. Whatever was still rattling around inside her head. He'd managed to contain the worst of it, enough to save her from bursting into flames. But he couldn't hide it all away, the mental blockade would've been like a siren to all surrounding Time Lords and that would be worse than letting her head split open.

So the blockade was fluid. It moved and things slipped through. Even after nearly a year, she still needed him around to hold her mind together.

He caught her sometimes, lost in her thoughts, wringing her hands, always that same look in her eyes: a look of pain and confusion, of knowledge and fear. He'd learned to watch for the warning signs before she passed out or screamed from the pain. But it was getting more and more tedious with each passing day.

He fiddled with a pen in his hand. "It is possible to make things easier to handle." He commented, turning his gaze away from her.

She looked up. He shuffled his papers around until he found a little black book buried underneath them.

"We just have to find a way of letting it out without making your head explode."

She blinked in confusion. "How?"

He smiled. You'd think she'd trust his brilliant plans by now.

He crossed to her desk and placed the book in front of her. She looked down at it and back up at him.

"I want you to try something for me."

She nodded obediently. He crouched so he was at her eye level and held the pen out to her. "Write it. All the things you see in your head, put them down as words."

She regarded the pen with a kind of fearful reverence. "But I don't even…"

He pushed the pen into her hand and closed her fingers around it. "It's alright. It'll help you manage the visions and feelings until I can work out something better. The things you see will make sense one day…" He'd meant it to be a lie but as the words slipped from his tongue, they became true. One day she _would_ understand. He saw it in her eyes, the same way he had seen the golden staircase the day he'd met her. One day, her entire head would be full of the voices of the universe, dancing along the time-streams, touching the furthest stars…

"Architect?" Her voice pulled him from her future.

He stared searchingly into her clear eyes. "What did you see in there?"

His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door and a familiar but entirely unwelcome metal probe. He abruptly closed his mind off.

"I know you're in there, open the door." He ignored the call. Maybe he'd just go away.

"This doesn't have to be difficult. Either your door stays on its hinges or not."

The Architect rolled his eyes as he walked to the door and yanked it open.

"Well if it isn't my little brother. What do you need from me this time?"

The slightly shorter man with hair that curled over his forehead and around his face regarded him evenly with hazel eyes. A new regeneration. The Architect felt a slight twinge of envy. None of his bodies had ever had hazel eyes. He wondered what they'd be like.

The Architect's brother adjusted his cravat as he stepped inside. "Why must you assume I need something every time I come around?"

The Architect closed the door behind him with a snap. "You still rattling about in that stolen TARDIS?" He inquired as he pushed past the man to lead the way to the sitting room.

"Borrowed." His brother replied sharply as he followed. "And I've been travelling, yes. Unfortunately that's on hold at the moment."

"You fried the chameleon circuit again, didn't you?" For the third time this century. "I told you, boxes are a difficult shape to assume and even more difficult for the circuit to break. If you like boxes so much why not just choose a box and leave it that way?"

They had crossed into the sitting room which could hardly even be called that. All that was in it were several hard chairs and a dusty tabletop. Not much company passed through these days. The Architect's brother waved the question away. "Never mind the circuit. That's not why I'm here." He settled rather stiffly into a hard, wooden chair.

The Architect leaned on the door frame, unwilling to sit just yet. "But that is part of why you came." His brother fidgeted nervously.

"…. Yes but that's not the reason."

He smirked in triumph. Foolish brother. He was going to enjoy this.

The man ignored his condescending smile. "Something's going on." He began seriously.

"So I gathered. You're on my doorstep."

His brother straightened up, seeming a little surprised. "You really don't care, do you?"

The Architect fingered the scar on his left arm, the only battle-scar this body had to its name. "You'll find there's not much worth caring about in my life these days."

"Please brother, can you just listen without commenting for once? This could be vital."

He acquiesced but not happily. He thought of it like a game: how long he could go without talking.

His brother took a deep breath. "I think something big is going to happen. Very soon."

"Oh? What makes you think that?" Ten seconds apparently.

His brother ignored the broken promise. "Why else would we all suddenly be called home?" He asked, leaning forward again.

He shrugged. "Class reunions, old battalions returning for a refresher, bi-centennial vote?"

His brother shook his head. "It really doesn't bother you?"

He pushed off the wall and walked around to the chair opposite his brother's. "You've been travelling too long." He told him as he sat down. "When people stay in one place for a long time, they get sentimental, they establish relationships with people and they occasionally gather and celebrate."

His brother stiffened. "Not me."

The corner of his mouth twisted. "Well, you never did care much for family did you?"

"Well neither did you."

The two brothers regarded each other in silence for a long while, their gazes and thoughts both hard and reserved.

"What do you want from me?" He finally asked when the silence was too much to bear.

His brother sat back. "I need your help getting into the High Council records."

"No."

"You haven't even heard why yet!"

"And you just insulted me, tell me why should I help?"

The other man rose to his feet, towering over the Architect's seated form. This regeneration was taller than the last one. "Something is going on. Something huge and all-encompassing. It could be disastrous. I'm just trying to help. Why is it so hard for you to see that?"

He sighed. He could see where this was going. Just like his brother, playing the 'good Samaritan' card. "So what's the problem?" He asked, trying to keep the sardonic edge out of his voice. "And why do you need my help?"

His brother settled down a bit but remained standing. "Everyone's been called home." He reiterated.

He settled back in his chair. Repetition was not going to prove the point. "Nothing wrong with that."

His brother shook his head. "No, you don't understand. _Everyone's _been called home." He said it very deliberately, with a pointed look towards the empty spot on the wall.

He sat forward very suddenly, both his hearts racing. "Everyone?"

His brother nodded. The Architect's eyes were involuntarily drawn to the empty spot. "Even…?"

His brother nodded, a sad smile curving up his face. "Knew that would get your attention."

He whipped around to stare at his brother. "How did you..?"

"I scanned the signal when I received it." He explained, sitting back down. "It wasn't unique to me, it was being sent to everyone."

The Architect couldn't help a glance at the spot again. "Have you seen her?" He asked, trying not to sound desperate.

His brother took a deep breath. "No. No I haven't. But I've only just arrived, she could be back…"

The Architect stood and started pacing the length of the room. "When did it start?"

His brother looked on with a sad expression that he ignored. "The recall only began last month, but the signs have been around for awhile. The Council has been meeting more and more often. Ever since that night nearly a year ago, they've been on edge."

He scoffed. "They're always on edge."

His brother paused. "They've started taking children to the schism at six." He said bitterly.

He stopped pacing and faced his brother. "And this is a cause for concern?"

"It's getting worse, whatever they see." His brother said, a hint of anger creeping into his voice. "They say there was a girl who collapsed at the schism about a year ago and she was of age."

He tried not to flinch.

"Whatever she saw was so bad her mind could not bear it. She completely sealed herself off."

He stared out the window at the large tree. His brother was silent but he didn't dare turn around to face him.

"Anything else?" He asked.

"The Visionary. She spoke."

He turned back to his brother, surprised. "When?"

"About two months ago."His brother informed him. "Hasn't shut up since."

The ancient Time Lady had not spoken in over a century. Now he was genuinely curious.

He crossed back to the chairs. "What did she say?"

His brother shrugged. "Usual stuff, bunch of nonsense. But she drew this." He traced a spiral in the dust on the table, starting at the center and circling clockwise outward several times. "And she said: 'It is coming, it is here, it is starting, and it is ending.'"

He stared down at the symbol. Something about it was familiar. "What is that supposed to mean?"

His brother shrugged. "No idea. That's why I came to ask you."

The Architect narrowed his gaze. "What makes you think I know anything about prophecies and riddles?"

His brother smirked. "You don't." He sat back and looked up at the Architect. "But you understand soldiers. You understand politics. And you can get me inside the system."

"Why would I do that?"

His brother gazed at him evenly. "I just told you."

"Not interested." He didn't even hesitate.

His brother stood, one fist clenched. "After all that? You can't possibly expect me to believe that you're not even the tiniest bit concerned?"

He stood as well, but more casually. "Caught me on a bad day, sorry." He turned to walk away but his brother grabbed him by the arm and glared.

"Well would it interest you to know that I managed to hack some of the communications before I was blocked?"

He shook his arm free. "See you don't need me. Look at my clever brother all grown up and poking his nose where it doesn't belong."

The other man ignored the jab. "Well I found something quite surprising." He stepped in front of his brother as if to stop him.

The Architect sighed exasperatedly. "You and I differ greatly on our definitions of surprising."

His brother raised an eyebrow. It wasn't fair that all his regenerations seemed to be able to do that without looking ridiculous. Well, except maybe that one he'd seen over two hundred years ago, the last time his brother had been home. "Oh really? Tell me, is this surprising? Why would the High Council be receiving communications from the dalek emperor?"

Before his statement could really sink in, his brother suddenly fell silent and peered around him at the entrance to the room. He turned to follow his gaze.

The child was poking her head around the door. There was no way of telling how long she had been there. She still clutched the pen in her fingers but the book was nowhere in sight.

His brother stepped around him towards the girl. "Well this is new. You're not one to keep young company."

He stepped in front of his brother to stop his advance. He couldn't let him get too close, what if she had a relapse? "This is the Tool."

The other man raised both his eyebrows. "The Tool? That's an unfortunate name."

"She chose it." He replied defensively. The girl shifted slightly behind him.

His brother examined her a little too carefully for his liking. "She looks more like a Scribe if you ask me." He stated, indicating the pen in her hand.

He stiffened. "I didn't ask you." He replied through his teeth.

His brother ignored him and offered the child a friendly smile and probably a gentle mental touch. "Hello there."

She didn't respond, she just stared at him with those wide, clear eyes like an animal watching a predator. Then she ducked back behind the doorframe into the workshop.

His brother frowned. "Is she always that strange?"

He shrugged noncommittally. "You'd be surprised."

His brother looked at him carefully for a long while then sighed in defeat. "You really won't help me?"

He took up position against the door frame again. "I'm no longer a soldier brother. My influence counts for very little now. I can't help you."

"Can't or won't?"

He didn't answer that question.

The man nodded once, his gaze hard. "I'll see you then brother." He stalked past the Architect and towards the door. After a moment, he pushed off the wall and followed, crossing back into the workshop just as the door slammed behind his brother's retreating form.

The Tool was standing next to her desk, frowning at the closed door. "I don't like him…" She stated.

He glanced down at her. That was odd. Usually his brother was the likable type. "Why not?" He asked her.

She stared unblinkingly at the door, like she could see through it. "He's dark. All darkness and anger and pain…"

Surprised, he knelt in front of her again, trying to look into her eyes. They remained fixed on the door. "How can you see that?" He asked.

She blinked and didn't answer but her grip on the pen in her hand tightened. Her other hand rested near her collar.

He snatched the book from the tabletop. She'd only had it for ten minutes or so but already the back and front of the first two pages were covered with her scribbles. She wrote in her native Earth language of course, he'd have to train that out of her. But that was not his concern right now. His eyes flew across her writing until they found the impossible. Scrawled across the page, hidden among the detached, childish script she had been writing in before was a single line of tight, neat penmanship in Old High Gallfreian runes as if something else had taken hold of the pen and crafted the words themselves:

**_The Time War will end when the Bad Wolf howls to the Oncoming Storm._**


	8. The BAD WOLF and the Oncoming Storm

This one took way to long on account of the fact that I had to re-watch most of series 1 to get the feel right. Also I had some technical issues but they're all solved now! Read this chapter carefully and you might get a surprise!

Songs for this chapter: UNIT and Rose Defeats the Daleks (both from the Series 1 and 2 soundtrack)

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><p><em><span>The Bad Wolf and the Oncoming Storm<span>_

Captain Jack Harkness addressed the crowd on floor 0.

"The daleks are coming. This station is all that stands in their way." He said flatly, holding his automatic casually. "I need volunteers. Has anyone here ever fired a gun before?"

The room broke into quiet murmurings, most of which did not sound encouraging. Convincing people to fight was going to take time. Time they didn't have.

A voice from the back of the crowd spoke. "I have." The statement was quiet, flat and calm but it drew the attention of the entire room.

Jack watched with interest as a scrawny teenager pushed her way forward through the crowd to approach him. He looked her up and down carefully. Usually Jack was not a judgmental person, quite the opposite in fact. But he was about to send people to their deaths protecting the Doctor and Rose. He'd prefer that those people actually had a fighting chance.

She looked barely capable of lifting a gun let alone firing it.

"Are you sure you can?" He asked, trying to be respectful but discouraging all the same.

She looked him in the eye. "I was a soldier." She said simply.

He considered the young woman again. "Really?"

Before he could react, she snatched the automatic from his hand and had it upright and in her own. She flipped the weapon over, detaching the empty cartridge as she did so. Before the spent cartridge even hit the floor she had whipped a fresh one from Jack's pocket and had it loaded, primed and aimed at his heart. Silence descended except for a few spare shells clinking to the floor. Jack stared at her expressionless face. She was a solider alright: it was in her posture, her eyes, her cold detachment from any sort of pleasure or happy thought while holding a weapon. She was prepared to kill him if she had too.

"Okay. You keep that one…" He said after a few seconds of stunned silence, gesturing to the gun. The girl blinked and her icy soldiers' demeanor melted slightly. She lowered the weapon and strapped it over her shoulder with a nod. She began plucking cartridges from the crate next to him as calmly and with the same self-assurance as if she had been picking fruit.

"I'll go scope out the perimeter." She said as she shoved three spare cartridges into her belt, which looked like it had been designed specifically for such a purpose. She adjusted the strap to let the gun sit comfortably across her back. "What floor do we start on?"

Jack raised his eyebrows but said nothing about her impressive tactical reasoning. "494 and up." He replied. She nodded again and crossed to the open lift. "Were you a strategist by any chance?" Jack called after her.

The soldier turned to face him. "No." She replied, pushing the lift button. "Special task force foot soldier." The lift door closed.

Jack whistled softly as the crowd broke into confusion again. "I have got to start hanging around the army again…"

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><p>When the lift reached floor 494, the doors slid open and the soldier stepped calmly out. It was deserted and dark, the silence clinging heavily to the shadows. She pulled out the pen and aimed it at the computer panel. The lights slowly sprang to life, illuminating the high ceilings and the sign at the far end that loudly proclaimed the owner of this entire operation: Bad Wolf Corporation.<p>

The woman looked up at the sign with a slight catch of her breath in her throat.

"It's here too…"

A familiar sound drifted down from the floor above her: a grinding, wheezing, repetitive sound like something ancient and powerful drawing breath after breath. She drew a sharp intake of breath as something deep inside her stirred at the noise. Her pulse pounded heavily in her throat as the consciousness touched her own. She tucked the pen away and swung the gun around into carrying position. Her blood was beginning to boil with battle fervor. She knew the reason for this happiness. She'd finally done it.

She'd found them.

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><p>The Doctor let the sonic fall to his side as the box disappeared. Rose's frantic calls faded into the mists of time.<p>

…_He held her securely in his arms again. "It feels like I haven't seen you in years." Rose told him as she hugged him tightly._

"_I told you I'd come and get you."_

_She smiled at him with so much trust, so much pleasure at seeing him again that his left heartbeat briefly matched the rhythm of his right. "I never doubted you…" _

…_He smiled. "Never even occurred to you did it?" That was his Rose, always thinking the best of him. _

"_Well," She said, still stripping wires for him. "I'm just too good."…_

…_The realization that they would not make it out alive. They would all have to die, or the daleks would win…_

…_He pulled her close and planted a firm, slightly lingering kiss on her forehead. The last time he would ever touch her… ever feel her so close…_

He tried to smile but failed pathetically. She was safe. He clung to that fact as he turned away from the empty room and resumed his work on the delta ray.

He was already missing her. Not having her in the room but knowing she was still alive was almost worse than when he had feared her dead. _But she's safe now._ He reminded himself. _She'll be safe._ She would live out her life, probably marry Mickey and die of natural causes at an old age for a human. Vainly, he tried to look back, to see her life in the swirling mists of time. Still nothing. Even while she was separated from him forever, he still could not see her life.

He scooped up the wires she had been stripping barely a minute before and started to connect them to the converter. The silence of the station was deafening. Like the universe had stopped turning.

He was stuck now. It was strange; staying still for too long had always terrified him. That was part of why he had stolen a TARDIS and run away all those years ago.

He had always feared what would happen if he grew attached to a place, if he knew people for too long. Eventually, something always happened to them. Everyone who had grown close to him had eventually left. As he knew they would. So he avoided prolonged stays. Never more than a few days in one place if he could help it.

But he felt none of that now. No, knowing that the TARDIS was out of dangerous hands, knowing that Rose was safe, he was content. Content to face his fate and die if he had too.

Jack's voice crackled over the intercom calling for Rose's help. He ignored it as best he could, a strange stinging sensation in his throat.

"She's not here." He finally said, when he couldn't stand to hear Jack calling for her anymore.

"Well how much time does it take to leak? When she gets back tell her to read me the codes."

"She's not coming back." He said in an emotionless voice.

"What do you mean, where'd she go?"

He hesitated for a fraction of a second. "Just get on with your work."

"You took her home didn't you?" The captain said, without a hint of surprise or anger.

"Yeah." He said bluntly, daring Jack to say something else about Rose.

Jack got the hint. "The delta wave…" he began, like he feared the answer "is it ever going to be ready?"

"_TELL HIM THE TRUTH, DOCTOR_." The dalek emperor interrupted before he could shoot another vague, blunt response to the captain. He paused, sonic in hand as the god spoke from the screen. "_THERE IS EVERY POSSIBILITY THE DELTA WAVE COULD BE COMPLETE… BUT NO POSSIBILITY OF REFINING IT._" Well so much for secrets. "_THE DELTA WAVE MUST KILL EVERY LIVING THING IN ITS PATH WITH NO DISTINCTION BETWEEN HUMAN AND DALEK. ALL THINGS WILL DIE. BY YOUR HAND._"

"Doctor…" he turned back to Jack's image on the com. "The range of this transmitter covers the entire Earth." He said nothing. What could he say?

"_YOU WOULD DESTROY DALEKS AND HUMANS TOGETHER._" The emperor stated in what could pass for triumph if it wasn't coming from a dalek. "_IF I AM GOD, THE CREATOR OF ALL THINGS THEN WHAT DOES THAT MAKE YOU DOCTOR?_"

"There are colonies out there." He protested, desperate to defend himself. "The human race would survive in some shape or form but you're the only daleks in existence. The whole universe is in danger if I let you live." He wasn't exterminating the humans. He was only massacring them. Not much better, but not as final.

He looked at Jack again. The captain's face was a mask of hard neutrality. "D'you see Jack?" Jack said nothing. He could see the horror in his eyes. The betrayal and judgment. "That's the decision I've gotta make for every living thing. Die as a human or live as a dalek." He hoped Jack could pick up on the remorse in his voice. He didn't want this. But it had to be done. Jack still said nothing. "What would you do?" He asked Jack.

Jack was silent for a moment. "You sent her home… she's safe." He stated, like it was the most important thing right now. "Keep working." He commanded roughly.

"_BUT HE WILL EXTERMINATE YOU!_" The emperor cried.

Jack's face broke into a smile. "Never doubted him, never will."

He smiled, his battle fervor returning. Good old Jack. Loyal to the end. He stood and approached the screen. "Now you tell me, god of all daleks, cause there's one thing I never worked out." The last question on his mind. Something he'd been dying to ask since he'd seen the words.

"The words BAD WOLF, spread across time and space, everywhere, drawing me in. How'd you manage that?"

"_I DID NOTHING!_" The diety proclaimed.

He smirked. "Oh come on, there's no secrets now your worship."

"_THEY ARE NOT PART OF MY DESIGN_." The emperor stated flatly. He stared, somehow believing its words. "_THIS IS THE TRUTH OF GOD._"

He stared up at the words. They loomed in the darkness, half-hiding in the shadows like they were stalking him, trying to stare him down. If it hadn't been the daleks, who had left those words? What could possibly have had the power and the ability to scatter them across time and space, exactly where he was going to see them? His hearts hammered in his chest. What was BAD WOLF?

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><p>He felt Jack die. But there was no time to mourn. He yanked the switch up. "It's ready!" He couldn't believe he'd finished it this quickly. Just in time actually. As he looked up, the daleks were slowly entering the room from all sides, surrounding him.<p>

"You really want to think about this." He commented to the emperor, trying to stifle his growing fear. "Cause if I activate the signal, every living creature dies."

"_I AM IMMORTAL._" The dalek emperor declared confidently.

"D'you want to put that to the test?" He taunted.

"_I WANT TO SEE YOU BECOME LIKE ME._ _HAIL THE DOCTOR, THE GREAT EXTERMINATOR!_"

His hands were quite suddenly gripping the switch. "I'LL DO IT!" He shouted, rage and fear coursing through him in a bitter mixture.

"_THEN PROVE YOURSELF DOCTOR. WHAT ARE YOU? COWARD OR KILLER?_"

He tightened his grip on the switch. He had to do this, it would end it all. He was going to do this… _Rose brushed her blonde hair from her eyes, giggling with glee as they walked arm in arm through a snowy Cardiff… Her eyes filled with such pity, such compassion as he told her of the Time War and what it had cost… "I could save the world but lose you…" She stared at him for so long, almost as if she couldn't quite comprehend what those words meant and why he was saying them to her… She cried into his shoulder as they mourned the death of Peter Tyler… _ His throat tightened, he drew a gasping breath. …_"Such hard work." Jack teased, grinning widely… Jack tossed him a banana with a suggestive smile. "Thought you might appreciate that Doctor. Shall I make it a banana martini?"… Rose and Jack pulled him into a joint hug, the warmth of companionship filling the control room and warming both his hearts… Rose looked at him with those trusting eyes. She knew this man. He was a good, kind, brave, wonderful man and she trusted him with all her human heart._

His fingers went limp and slid off the switch. "Coward." He decided. "Any day."

There was a moment of triumphant silence from the emperor. "_MANKIND WILL BE HARVESTED BECAUSE OF YOUR WEAKNESS!_" It finally said, sounded disgusted and jubilant all at once.

"And what about me?" He asked. "Am I becoming one of your angels?"

The dalek emperor fixed him with its sickly eye. "_YOU ARE THE HEATHEN. YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED!_"

He accepted his fate. "Maybe it's time."

He closed his eyes, waiting for their strike. So this was it. The end of the Time War. The daleks would win, the Earth would perish, the Time Lords would be extinct.

He removed himself from this place, put himself back in the TARDIS a week ago. Rose had been laughing, Jack clapping him on the back at some joke. And he had smiled. He blocked out everything about the scene around him: the bleak walls, the silence of the massacred station, the daleks aiming for his hearts. He couldn't even face his own death. Coward to the end.

He could hear the TARDIS again, wheezing and breathing as she took him and Rose and Jack on to new adventures. Was this Time Lord afterlife? It had to be, it sounded so real, so close…

The shout of a dalek broke through his mental blockade. "ALERT! TARDIS MATERIALIZING!"

His eyes flew open. He wasn't hearing things… it was actually here.

He spun around just as the box fully appeared, in the exact spot he had made it disappear from only minutes before. Had it returned for him? What was that light in the windows…?

"_YOU WILL NOT ESCAPE!_" The dalek god cried but he was too busy trying to figure out why there was suddenly singing in his head. Singing that was so familiar…

The doors burst open with a torrent of golden light. He shielded his eyes as the full power of time and space crashed against them. When the initial wave subsided, he risked a peak over his hands. What he saw both took his breath away and made both his hearts stop in fear.

It was Rose, standing in the full onslaught of the light. Absorbing it. Being it.

She took a step forward and vanished into the light, entering the time vortex as easily as the TARDIS itself did.

He stumbled backwards as every Time Lord instinct in his body screamed at him to drop, to run. But he couldn't… it was Rose. Rose was back. Rose was in danger.

She materialized standing over him. Her eyes were distant and calm. Deep within them, the telltale vortex of time turned.

"What've you done?" He cried.

"_I looked into the TARDIS…_" Rose said in a voice that was definitely not her own. "…_and the TARDIS looked into me._"

Of course. She had opened the heart. He didn't even want to think about what she'd had to do to force that open. "You looked into the time vortex Rose, no one's meant to see that!" He told her. She only looked at him, scrutinizing him with those far away eyes, like she could see everything at once but only cared about seeing him. No, it must have just been the overwhelming sense of time in her head.

The voice of the Emperor boomed from the wall screen. "_THIS IS THE ABOMINATION!_"

"EXTERMINATE!" He turned around in time to see the lead dalek fire. The ray shot out, straight at the golden goddess but she merely raised a hand, the power of time flaring in her eyes and blocked the shot with an open hand. The ray abruptly ceased and the daleks stood, dumbfounded. Their unstoppable weapon had been rendered useless.

"_I am the BAD WOLF._" He turned back to Rose. "_I create myself._" His hearts plummeted as the realization dawned on him. It all made sense. Time wasn't a line. The only reason they were here now was because they were here right now. Rose raised her eyes to the logo high on the wall. "_I take the words…_" She raised one hand and made a slow brushing motion. _ "I scatter them. In time and space._" Following her movement, the letters of BAD WOLF separated themselves and drifted away into oblivion. "_A message to lead myself here._"

This power, the power to send things through time and space, to control action and thought. All the power of the Goddess was in her hands. She was going to die. "Rose you've got to stop this," He pleaded. "You've got to stop this now!" He didn't care about the dalek army on the loose. He didn't care about the Earth below, about his own life. Not while she was in danger.

Rose didn't move. It was as if she couldn't hear him. The vortex burned in her eyes stronger than ever. Soon it would consume her entirely. "You've got the entire vortex running through your head! You're gonna burn!" How she was not burning already was a complete mystery to him but one he was thankful for nonetheless.

She glanced down at him at those words, the light vanishing from her eyes. "I want you safe." He stared into her brown eyes, everything else forgotten. Because the universe had just ceased to exist. "My Doctor." She uttered the words like a prayer, tears glistening in her eyes. Like she had wanted to say them forever. Rose, not the creature she had become. Rose was saying this to him. Both his hearts had stopped beating. His mind had stopped functioning properly. Rose was keeping him safe, prepared to do anything to save him. No concern for herself just the desire to get him out alive and unharmed. "Protected from the false god." Rose said, a single delicate tear running down her cheek.

"_YOU CANNOT HURT ME._" The voice from the wall boomed. "_I AM IMMORTAL!_" Rose's gaze finally broke his own and she looked at the Emperor for the first time. Her whole body seemed to clench. Abruptly the power was back. He recoiled from its potency as the BAD WOLF spoke again. "_**You are tiny. I can see the whole of time and space. Every single atom of your existence and I divide them.**_" The vortex flared in her eyes again, turning them into liquid gold as she raised one hand towards the army. He felt the dalek immediately in front of her, the one who had tried to shoot her, crumble slowly into golden dust and disappear. He found himself unable to look away from her as she glowed with the power. "_Everything must come to dust._" The BAD WOLF said quietly, another tear running down her cheek. "_All things…_" She raised both hands. "_Everything dies._" She said in a voice that trembled with wisdom and sorrow. He finally broke from his stupor and looked around in awe as the entire army began to disintegrate into dust. Dalek after dalek fell before her without as much as a whimper. In a few seconds, the room was empty except for her and himself.

"_**The Time War ends**__._" The BAD WOLF declared.

The emperor spoke. "_I WILL NOT DIE…_" But it **was** dying. He could feel it. The potency of time rippled out from her like a wave, everything dalek gently rendered to dust in its path. He trembled. Nothing could stop the judgment of the Goddess. "_I CANNOT. DIIIIEEEEEE…_" His protest was cut off as his entire ship melted into atoms. Every dalek was gone, he could feel nothing of their presence but Rose still stood there, arms thrown out at her sides, churning with the power of the universe.

"Rose," he said carefully knowing just how delicate her control was "you've done it now stop."

Her muscles clenched but the fire did not leave her eyes. She had unleashed a force she could not control. The power was consuming her, wanting its freedom.

"Just let go." He commanded her desperately. He couldn't lose her, not like this.

"How can I let go of this?" She sounded liberated, transcendent. "I bring life…" Down the corridor, Jack inhaled sharply as life returned to his body.

"But this is wrong!" He yelled. She had to stop. This wasn't his Rose. She wasn't like this. "You can't control life and death!"

"But I can." She turned to look at him again. Only him. Rose was speaking. But the fire of time still burned in her eyes. She was still frozen in position. "The sun and the moon, the day and night…" She declared, like she could feel them turning in her mind. Another tear slipped down her cheek. "But why do they hurt?" She asked, her voice breaking.

It was starting. She'd be torn apart. "The power's gonna kill you and it's my fault!" He looked away, every muscle in his body clenching in agony. It was all his fault… he'd done this. His throat tightened with tears. He'd killed her.

"I can see everything…" Rose whispered but the pathetic sound pierced straight through both his hearts. He looked up. She was trembling, begging him to make it stop, to make the pain go away. "…All that is…" He'd stopped breathing. "…All that was…" Could she..? "All that ever could be."

He stood, looking her in the eyes. "That's what **I** see. All the time. And doesn't it drive you mad?"

She tried to nod but couldn't move. "_My head_…" she choked out in the voice of the BAD WOLF.

A deep calm had settled over him. "Come here." He commanded tenderly. He could save her. They were the same.

She was shaking quite visibly now, her eyes swimming in fear and pain. "… is killin' me!"

He smiled. That was his Rose. Gently, he took her hands. "I think you need a Doctor…"

He stepped forward, gently tugging her closer. She turned to him, crying in full now, begging him to come, to help, to do this thing to her that he'd been preventing himself from doing for the longest time.

He stared into her eyes, the eyes he had come to know so well, the eyes that had peered into his soul and put it back together again. The eyes that had saved him. How he loved those eyes.

He leaned forward and captured her lips with his own.

As their lips met several things happened. First, he registered just how soft her lips were, how precious and gentle and sweet like her namesake, how good, how _right_ they felt pressing back against his own. Second, he realized that this was what he had wanted for the longest time, practically since the day he'd met her. To share this kind of bond with her. It was as if he'd been carrying an enormous weight on his hearts, his mind and his body all at once without realizing it and as soon as his lips had touched hers, they'd all vanished. Like they'd never existed.

Third, the flow of power between their closed eyes began, burning into his skull the omnipotence of time, flooding his veins with the knowledge and power of the greatest force in the universe.

Fourth (and most beautiful of all): he **heard** her. Her mind poured into his own as no one else's had. Her thoughts touched his and immediately joined his consciousness. She shouted his name in his own head. She wanted him closer. She never wanted him to let go. She wanted exactly what he wanted. He smiled into the kiss.

He itched to pull her into his embrace, to crush her against him and hold her there. They were one. He would be tied to her for the rest of his existence. The Bad Wolf and the Oncoming Storm.

Reluctantly, he tenderly pulled away and broke the connection. His eyes opened to hers. The last few fragments of the time vortex burned between them: connecting blue to brown.

For one precious, wonderful second, she stared into his eyes. For that one precious, wonderful second, she saw him as all he was. His arms were there to catch her before she fell. He cradled her softly against his chest, just below his first heart, taking a second to remember this moment, to know that this was everything he'd been fighting for all this time. To have her safe in his arms.

The fighting was over.

Softly he lowered her to the floor.

Then he rose, eyes glowing like the twin suns of Gallifrey. He could feel it, all that power. The raw pulsating energy that was time itself. It filled him, consumed him and swirled within his mind, filling the emptiness that had been there since the Time War. He could keep this. He could be invincible. He could be a god.

Never again would he feel anything but the turn of the universe, the flow of time. He could create and destroy at will. Chose what lived and what died. Rewrite the past, present and future.

He took a deep breath.

And he let it go.


	9. The Time of the Draft

Songs for this chapter: The Greatest Story Never Told (Series 4), This is Gallifrey: Our Childhood, Our Home (Series 3) (Yes I'm reusing some songs because they were just that good)

_The Time of the Draft_

This time he wasn't woken by her screams. Instead it was a strangled, breathy shout, barely more than a cough. Yet the sound still managed to carry through three walls and his closed door to assault his ears. He sighed and sat up. She might drift back to sleep before dawn came but he couldn't. "At least she has stopped crying every time…" He muttered to himself as he pulled his clothes on. Over the years, she'd gotten better at controlling her human impulses and actions. Writing in that damn book so much must have helped.

He pushed open her door and walked softly up to her bedside, listening to her breathing. It was deep but not quite as slow as he was hoping for. Her hair was clinging to the pillow at odd angles. The sheets were tangled around her form, like she had been writhing in her sleep. Her forehead was creased and he could see the tension in her shoulders and neck. He gently placed two fingers on the temple closest to him and closed his eyes. A gentle mental push into her mind was all it took to make her relax completely and fall back into a deep sleep. Her mental blockade flowed obediently back into place as its Architect finished his adjustments and left her to sleep.

He entered his workshop and the lights sprang to life, illuminating the plans he'd left spread on his desk last night. He smiled. One good thing about her waking him up early was it gave him time to work on her present. He pulled the blueprints towards him.

_A sonic pen…_ He had thought of it only last week. _A sonic pen with a single hueon particle for a core…_ The perfect gift for a young writer with so few other natural talents. Something to give her the tiniest bit of an edge over the Time Lords.

He removed his blaster from his hip and placed it on the corner of his desk so it would not get in his way and got to work.

The casing was simple enough; the most difficult part was going to be reinforcing the core so that the hueon energy wouldn't leak out. Not that it would be too difficult. Not for him anyway.

He pulled his work glasses over his eyes and set to work.

He might have finished the entire apparatus except for the fact that he didn't get more than an hour of uninterrupted work time before the knock on his door came. Sighing in frustration, he got up from his worktable and crossed to the door, ignoring the mental probe from his caller.

He yanked open the door. "Go away… I'm…" His voice trailed off as he took in the familiar face.

The caller smirked at him. "Hello soldier. How goes the day?"

He involuntarily stiffened. "General." The tall, imposing Time Lord on his doorstep didn't even wait to be invited in but rather brushed right past him and stood in the entryway.

He shut the door. "To what do I owe the honor?" He realized he was still wearing the glasses and hurriedly snatched them off his face.

The General rounded on him, his expression serious. "Let's not play games Architect. You know what brings me."

He'd been out of the army for almost a century now but when facing his former commanding officer, he still found he had to fight not to draw himself up to attention, stare straight ahead and let his mind be invaded by his commander. The result was a stiff, uneven posture that left him staring at the General's chin with an impenetrable mental blockade. "I'm afraid I don't." He said stiffly.

The General fingered the mini rifle strapped to his hip. It was a habit he often had when delivering orders. "The war is coming." He stated.

"What war?" This earned him a raised eyebrow. He shrugged. "Sorry, been a bit out of touch."

"More than a bit."

He said nothing. He just waited for the inevitable briefing that would follow.  
>"Davros is building an empire." The General began, folding his hands behind his back like he was addressing his battalion. "He plans to include all of Kasterborous and beyond." He looked him right in the eye. He fought to hold his gaze and his mental defenses. "We need all troops ready and able to fight."<p>

"Those days are over for me."

The General's hand shot out suddenly. Out of instinct, his hand went to his hip only to find it empty. Of course. His blaster was still on his worktable. He grimaced as the other Time Lord's hand slammed into his throat and pushed him roughly against the wall. "You will do your duty, soldier." His commanding officer growled in his ear. "We all will. Everyone has been recalled for this fight. Even your brother."

They both turned around (although his movements were severely limited by the strangle hold on his throat) as there was the sound of a weapon being primed. The Tool's hands were shaking as she pointed the blaster at the General.

He tried to shake his head at her but the grip on his throat was too tight.

The General took the child in: her mussed hair, her eyes ringed with evidence of her insomnia, her small hands and equally small body. After a second, his eyes lit up in realization. "Ahh. This must be your….. Tool." She flinched as he said the name and the gun in her grip stopped shaking. He must have tried to probe her mind. "She's got a fire in her eyes." The soldier observed.

His heart missed a beat. Was he trying to see her future? "She can't…" He choked out around the hand clenching his vocal cords.

The General shoved him back against the wall. "She is of age, let her speak."

The grip had loosened enough that air was leaking into his throat again. "No, not her… she's only 15…"

"14…" She corrected quietly, barely keeping the tremble out of her voice.

Something in the way she said that simple word made him look at her. Really look at her. Her hair was almost halfway down her back now (she had not cut it since the camps of her past life had sheared it off). Had it really been only seven years since he'd taken her in? Here she was: a gangly, young infant "Time Lord" of 14. Right now she looked so much older, so… non-human. Usually, whenever he looked at her, he couldn't help but see the entirely-too-human bits of her that they tried so hard to squash out of her. Now, as she stood there, hair loose about her shoulders, eyes locked on her opponent, gun clenched comfortably in her grip, all he saw was Time Lord. She could have been seven hundred and even he wouldn't have known any better.

But he couldn't let her fight a war.

As gently as he could, he reached out and shifted her mental blockade. She went rigid but remained standing. He closed his eyes in apprehension. Then he removed it completely. She made a tiny little gasping sound and he opened his eyes.

He watched in fascination as her pupils dilated completely but she remained standing. A bead of sweat ran down her face but she still did not move. The blaster in her grip didn't tremble at all. She had been without protection for almost a full minute.

He caught the General's eye, drawing the curious eyes away from the Tool's discomfort. "Fine. I shall return to fight. But she stays with me. She is my Tool. She will not leave my side."

The General held his gaze and slowly released his grip. "So be it." He let go and stepped back. The Architect rubbed the sore spots on his throat.

"You will hear from us by the end of the month with your orders for training camp." The General instructed, fingering his gun again. "Until then, go nowhere, prepare yourself and whatever you will need." He shot a look at the child who was still aiming a blaster at him. "And keep your… Tool, out of trouble."

He nodded and with a single thought, slid her mental protection back into place. She drew a sharp breath and the blaster clattered to the floor as she clutched at her head.

He dared to smile at his commanding officer. "She won't go far I promise you."

The General nodded and turned to go.

"One more thing." He said, turning back briefly. "We're confiscating your TARDIS."

The smile melted off his face. "What?"

"It's the law. Just as all Time Lords are being recalled to fight, so are all their travel-machines being outfitted for war."

They couldn't… His TARDIS was the only way he had survived during his previous service. "But it's not a war model, not anymore…" He protested.

The General shook his head in disbelief. "Amazing. Even in this body. You still blink twice before you lie." Then he turned and left.

* * *

><p>The sound of her heavy breathing woke him this time. He rolled out of bed with a groan. "Knew I'd pay for that mind tampering eventually…" He muttered as he pulled his shirt on and stumbled down the hall to her room.<p>

The door was open. She was not inside. Frowning, he followed the sounds of her breathing into the sitting room and leaned against the door frame to watch.

The chairs and furniture had all been pushed haphazardly aside. The girl who had once been called Ksenia was alone in the center of the cleared space. She lowered herself downward until the necklace clinked against the floor. Then laboriously, she tried to straighten her arms again and rise back to starting position. She barely got halfway.

"What are you doing?"

She looked up. "Training." Her arms visibly shaking, she resumed the starting position.

He tried not to laugh. "You'll get plenty of that in the next few years, I can guarantee that."

She stubbornly lowered herself again. "If I'm going to be out there… by your side… I can't… I can't be a burden…" A drop of sweat rolled off the end of her nose as she rose again. Her breathing was incredibly labored. She started to lower herself again. "I've got to… I've got to…" She gasped suddenly.

He was at her side before she hit the floor. "Hold on… hang in there you trooper…" He grabbed for her temples as she began to thrash and scream. He entered her mind.

And nearly backed out again. Her head was on fire, her thoughts falling apart as soon as they formed. He reached for his blockade, intending to slide it back into place.

He frowned. It was already in place. The mental blockade wasn't working at all.

She wailed like she was being torn to pieces. Frantically, he scrambled to set up a scaffold, some kind of new support that would bridge the sudden hole between her thoughts and the blockade. "Hold on… hold on…" He gnawed on the corner of his lip as he began the process. Slow… too slow…

He needed something to ground her. Something for her scattered thoughts to cling to while he worked. Reaching into his own vast mind, he pulled the memory forward and forced it upon her:

"_Are you sure this thing is going to work?_"

_He finished adjusting the wing and brandished his sonic screwdriver at her. _"_Why do you ask? Don't you trust me and my genius?_"

_She was silent but the corner of her mouth twitched. _

_He glared at her then ducked back under the wing and tightened the strap around her middle._

_She glanced out, over the top of the tall cliff. They were hidden deep among the Mountains of Solace and Solitude. "Didn't a human try to build something like this once?"_

_He finished adjusting the joint he was working on before he answered. "Yes. What's your point?"_

_She swallowed hard. "Didn't it fail?"_

"_Yes, but that's because he was a human." He hid his smile behind the opposite wing as she tried to glare at him. "And when you're building a flying contraption," he continued, sonicing a gear a little tighter "the logical and smart thing to do is to build rockets into it to generate enough thrust to keep the wearer airborne."_

_He tightened the strap around her left wrist and tapped her shoulder. She gave the wings an experimental flap. They held together flawlessly and moved effortlessly. "But he didn't have rockets." She pointed out, lowering her arms._

_Satisfied with his work, he stood up and tucked his screwdriver away. "Exactly." He moved to stand behind her, looking out over the red mountains. "Now, remember the most important thing."_

_She looked up at him. "What's that?"_

_He gave her a hard push off the edge. "Don't damage the mechanism!" He called after her._

He ended the memory and removed himself from her mind. The Tool moaned and curled into a ball as her spasm passed.

He sat back on his heels, breathing a little heavily. The last time he'd done that was when he had first created the blockade. Unfortunately, the memory he'd had to use that time was the one of when they'd met. She had cried for almost a week afterwards as a result.

Her years under his tutelage as his apprentice/test subject/project had given her some muscle and agility. He'd thought he'd all but solved the issue of her collapsing from her mental trauma due to years of conditioning and an intricate mental blockade deep in her subconscious. And today she'd managed to hold it for a full two minutes with no help whatsoever.

But she was still a poor excuse for a Time Lord. Her mind still collapsed if she wasn't in full control or if she was under too much stress. Her notebook was still full of the things her weak mind could not contain. Some days, the ink barely dried on one note before she was scribbling another.

She dreamed of higher learning, of attending the Gallifrey College of Science and Engineering. But of course there was no way that could happen. It was too risky and now with the war, it would be impossible.

The Tool slowly uncurled herself and sat up, wiping her eyes. "I'm sorry…" She whispered.

He sighed. "Being on the battlefield is going to be very stressful, not to mention dangerous. You're going to collapse more often and if you do, it's far more likely you'll die. And not just from the mental trauma." He slid down to sit opposite her. "Can you really handle all that?"

She was quiet for a long time. "So why?" She finally asked. "Why get me out there at all?"

He propped his elbow up on his knee. "It was the only way. They're pulling everyone for this war. They don't know that you can't regenerate like all the others. They'll send you into war to die, not realizing that for you, it's not a choice."

She drew her knees into her chest, her back to the window. Her wide unfathomable eyes seemed to glow in the half-light as they searched him for help. "So what do we do?"

He looked away from her. He didn't have an answer. Outside the window, the telltale glow of Gallifrey's first sunrise had appeared. After a few minutes, he realized he was staring at the empty spot on the wall. His jaw clenched.

"Do you know how I survived 300 tours of duty?" Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her shake her head.

He turned back to her, his eyes blazing. "I was clever. I stayed out of danger. I didn't do anything stupid. And I followed orders to the letter." The Tool looked him right in the eye. He could see the fire in her too. She wasn't afraid of him. She wasn't a coward. He stood up and looked down at her. "Can you do that?"

She nodded. "I will." She rose to her feet just as the first sun poked its head over the horizon. He was momentarily blinded as the light set fire to her skinny frame, making it seem like she was glowing, alive with the power, grace and surety of a Time Lord. She could have been regenerating and he wouldn't have been able to tell the difference.

It took him a few seconds to realize she had started talking again.

"It's funny… I wrote about this."

He blinked to clear both his thoughts and his vision. "About what?"

She rubbed her thumb against the necklace, a distant look in her eye. "About a war… a great sacrifice and the man who would end it…" She looked out of the window at the rising sun, her brow creased with a frown.

He tried to remember to breathe. "When did you write this?" He asked in a low voice.

It was like she was entering some kind of trance. She hardly seemed aware of him. "It was the first thing I ever wrote." She plucked the journal from the edge of the chair closest to her, not taking her eyes from the sun. "They're the words I see every night in my dreams, the message that dances across my vision whenever I close my eyes…"

She cracked open the cover and read:

"_The war is coming…. All will fight…. The broken clock….. the burning night… Metal seeks to Master Time… Two great races, face to face…. The coward is their saving grace…. It all depends on number 9… A Doctor in the sky… a storm is coming, brewing and breaking. _

_The lock will break. _

_Time will end._"

She closed the book. The second sun appeared on the edge of the horizon. "What does it mean?"

He said nothing.

* * *

><p>I didn't exactly mean for the Tool's prophecy to rhyme at the beginning. It just kind of started to. Please don't try to read into it or look for some complicated rhyme scheme. Seriously, I'm awful at poetry; you will just be wasting your time.<p> 


	10. A New Face

Sorry for being gone so long. Life is demanding…

A little change of pace now: a Rose chapter!

Song for this chapter: Hologram (Series 1 and 2 soundtrack)

* * *

><p><em><span>A New Face<span>_

_She grasped at her collar. Her fingers met nothing but cloth. It was gone! She clawed desperately at the spot. No… no it couldn't be gone! It was all she had..! The light was filling her vision, the song refused to end, the pounding, the wheezing…_

Her eyes snapped open. "What happened?" The golden glow rushed away from her and into the surrounding walls of the TARDIS control room.

"Don't you remember?" Her head turned to the voice. A rush of calm overcame her as she took him in, leaning casually against the console, watching the TARDIS move the way he always did. But how had he gotten here?

She sat up slowly, trying to think back through the thick fog that clung to her mind. "There was the singing…" A calm, gentle tuneless song…

"That's right, I sang a song and the Daleks ran away." His usual egotistic tone of voice was comforting, almost reassuring. But how had…?

She began to retrace her steps. "I was at home… no I wasn't I was in the TARDIS…" She had been screaming at Mickey to step on it. No, the chain had broken off… the hatch had opened… "…then there was this light…" And after the light? "I can't remember anything else…" She bit her lip, trying to think back. There was nothing. Only the light and the fading singing and a pleasant tingling sensation in her lips, eyes and fingers…

She looked up and met his eyes. For a moment, no one said anything.

"Rose Tyler." The Doctor finally said with a chuckle and a sad smile. She shifted under his gaze. The way he said her name had sounded… at that moment… so… different. Like he was trying to sum her up in those two words. His eyes stared deep into her own for another quiet moment.

"I was gonna take you to so many places. Barcelona!" He burst out suddenly. "Not the city Barcelona, the planet Barcelona. You'd love it, fantastic place!" She could feel her lips trying to curve up in a smile at his enthusiasm. He was like a five-year-old planning a vacation. But something felt wrong. Like his smile wasn't genuine. "They've got dogs with no noses!" He exclaimed and laughed. She turned her face away, chuckling. He could be so ridiculous sometimes. She loved it. "Imagine how many times a day you end up telling that joke and it's still funny!" He chuckled as she turned back to smile cheekily along with him.

"Then... why can't we go?" She inquired.

"Maybe you will, and maybe I will." He smiled that forced smile of his. "But not like this." He turned back to the console, the smile still plastered on his face. Something was definitely off.

She started to clamber to her feet, with the faint sense that she hadn't stood up in the longest time. "You're not making sense!" Not that he ever really made sense but usually she could at least pretend to follow along. This was starting to concern her. The Doctor had always been eccentric and she'd always gone with it because it was never boring. But this forced humor was a little over the top.

"I might never make sense again!" He cried. "I might have two heads, or no head." She played with her hair, smiling around her confusion. What was he talking about? "Imagine me with no head!" She had to laugh at that. It would certainly be an improvement over his current mood. "And don't say that's an improvement." He lectured her. His head dropped briefly than shot back up. "But it's a bit dodgy, this process." His tone of voice had changed from falsely cheerful to strangely calm. Suddenly she realized something. He wasn't just leaning on the console. He was supporting himself with it. Her smile began to fade.

He gave her a humorless smile. "You never know what you're gonna end up with."

He shot backwards suddenly, folding into himself in excruciating pain as his skin flashed gold.

She was running towards him. "Doctor!"

He threw up a hand. "Stay away!" He warned her. To scared and confused to do anything else, she backed up slowly.

The Doctor grimaced in pain, gritting his teeth and clutching at his middle. Her heart was racing.

"Doctor, tell me what's going on."

"I absorbed all the energy of the time vortex, and no one's meant to do that!" He replied, trying to joke but his smile contorting in pain. He took a few deep breaths before he spoke again. "Every cell in my body's dying." He said with painful certainty.

The words twisted her heart. He couldn't die, not now. Not when she'd just gotten him back. "Can't you do something?"

"Yeah, I'm doing it now." He replied in that teasing, impatient tone he so often used around her.

She tried to smile but her face rejected the motion.

"Time Lords have this little trick," He explained as she watched. "it's sort of a way of cheating death." He paused. She could feel herself starting to tremble. "Except..." He looked at her, and for the first time, she saw something there she couldn't quite name. It was like fear, sadness and hope all rolled into one. "It means I'm gonna change." He told her.

Change? Change how? She still didn't understand, was he going to die or not?

"And I'm not gonna see you again." He said matter-of-factly. Her heart stopped. He was sending her away again? Why, didn't he want her here anymore? Before she could articulate a response however, he spoke again.

"Not like this." He gestured at himself. "Not with this daft old face." He chuckled but winced in pain again. She waited quietly, breathing very shallow.

He looked up, that same, undecipherable expression on his face. "And before I go —"

"Don't say that!" She urged him. This wasn't goodbye. It couldn't be.

He interrupted her gently. "Rose." Just like that, just the way he said her name, reassured her. Everything would be alright. He wouldn't leave her. He'd always be there for her.

His ice blue eyes softened. "Before I go, I just wanna tell you: you were fantastic." She just stood there. Nothing seemed to want to work. Her heart was racing away, her eyes glued to him, her mouth unable to open.

"Absolutely fantastic." He repeated and she thought she heard a small catch in his voice. There was the smile again.

"And you know what?" He asked her.

Very slowly, she shook her head.

That goofy, cocky grin spread across his face. "_So was I!_"

She smiled back, tears choking her throat. That was her Doctor. She nodded.

The Doctor gave one last smile. And burst into light. She stumbled backwards into the TARDIS column as the blinding gold light poured against her vision, not unlike the golden light from her dream. He stood there, in the center of it all, quite possibly the source of it all?

She peered at it, her eyes watering, it was like he was… being replaced… or changing.

His neck was filling out, hair sprouting from his head, his entire face was changing structure.

In a flash, it was over as quickly as it had begun.

She stared in awe at the young man in front of her. He was thin and handsome, both somewhat shorter and younger than the Doctor with hair that seemed to stand up all on its own.

He looked up at her with deep, brown eyes. Her heart caught in her throat.

"Hello. Okay…" He suddenly froze, swallowing oddly. Rose watched in confusion as the man slowly ran his tongue over his teeth, screwing up his face.

"New teeth… that's weird…" He muttered, more to himself than to her. "Now where was I?"

He thought for a moment. "Oh that's right!" He looked over at her again. "Barcelona!"

Rose stared, still not believing. All thoughts of her dream and her loss of memory had fled her as she took in the familiar stranger before her. She had seen him before… she knew this face from somewhere…

The new Doctor smiled.

* * *

><p>Sorry it's so short after being away so long! I promise next chapter (a Tool chapter!) will be nice and long!<p>

So it's goodbye 9 and hello 10! The next chapter again probably won't be up for awhile. There's this little thing called life that is making me increasingly stressed so I really don't want that reflected in my writing.


	11. The Time of the War

What's this? An update? Hey guys, sorry for being away for so long. I hope you enjoy reading about the Time War.

On a side note: This is my own personal opinion of how the war went. I tried to stay as accurate as possible to my knowledge of the war but please let me know if I made any huge errors.

Songs for this chapter: All the Strange, Strange Creatures; The Futurekind (both from Series 3 soundtrack); The Greatest Story Never Told (Series 4 soundtrack)

* * *

><p><em><span>The Time of the War<span>_

She climbed back to her feet. "You didn't need to do that; I've still got a grenade left."

He took a deep breath before answering. "So why… didn't you… use it?"

She gave him a grim smile from under her cuts and smudges. "Can't just go throwing my last weapon away now can I? Plus I knew you'd be along."

He glared at her, getting his breath back. "And what if I wasn't?" He asked, pulling his own grenade from his belt loop.

Her smile didn't falter. "Then I'd use it." She snatched the grenade from his hand, ripped the ring out with her teeth and tossed it over her shoulder like an apple. Three seconds later, several daleks screamed as they were torn apart.

Noticing them among the rubble, he scooped the glasses up off the ground and brushed them off. "Be more careful. Those backup contacts only last a few minutes at most."

She snatched the glasses from his hand and slid them back on. "I had it under control. They were only off for two minutes, I had a count going." She pulled on the ends of her leather soldier's jacket until it lay flat across her bony shoulders again.

He only shook his head disapprovingly. "How's your head?" He asked her.

"Churning."

He was not satisfied with that answer. He motioned her towards him. She leaned forward and pulled the glasses down so he could look into her eyes. They were normal. Her pupils were a little more dilated than normal but the clear portion of her irises still dominated the majority of her eyes. He nodded, satisfied that he would not need to poke around in her head just yet.

They both ducked as the wall behind them exploded in flames from the blast of a dalek ship.

"Did you find it?" She asked after they'd uncovered their heads to avoid the blast of heat.

He held up the ring of double-wired plasma explosives. "Right where they were supposed to be… though I can't say the same for my screwdriver… down!"

She dropped obediently into a low defensive position as he took out the last two daleks with his automatic plasma cannon. When she rose again, she held out his missing sonic screwdriver.

"A good soldier never leaves his best tool at home." She berated him as he tossed the now useless cannon aside and snatched the tool from her hand. The Architect brandished it in her face.

"Yes, and a good tool knows when not to wander off." He pocketed the screwdriver.

"I'm not your tool anymore." She informed him, without even the hint of a smile.

He hesitated just a fraction of a second before he responded. "You'll always be my tool. Just with different name." His hand stretched out, as if to pat her on the head or clap her on the shoulder but another blast sent them racing towards the room's courtyard door as the ceiling collapsed on their side of the room.

"Can you get this door open?" He yelled to her over the sound of metal and stone crashing around them.

"No problem." She whipped the pen out of her pocket and touched the pointed end to the door-panel. A small burst of gold light shot out of the end and splashed across the panel. She twisted her wrist and the golden splash began to reform itself into Old High Gallfreian runes. She shaped and pulled and scribbled until the entire patch formed the word: _Open_. With a final flourish, she pulled the pen free of the runes. They flashed brightly once then sank into the door without a trace. The panel beeped once and the door slid open.

"There's no need to use the Change function, the sonic function would have worked just as well." He informed her as they took up defensive positions on opposite sides of the open door.

She grinned at him as she wrote the word _Heal_ on her arm with the pen. "But that's no fun."

He glared at her nonchalance. "So your idea of having fun is manipulating the fabric of the world at any chance you get?"

The smile melted off her face. "I'm a human among gods." She replied as the wounds on her face and arms closed. "I take what I can get."

He was silent for a moment. "I don't have any spare guns." He primed his ubiquitous plasma blaster. "You'll need to arm yourself until we can meet up with the platoon."

She nodded, slipping the pen back into its pocket in her soldier's jacket and attaching her remaining grenade to her belt.

He made sure his sonic and grenades were easily within reach and triple checked the ring of explosives was unarmed and attached securely to his jacket. "Ready?" She nodded. "Let's move out."

They burst through the door together. Straight into hell.

* * *

><p>A dalek ray quickly separated them as they sprinted towards Arcadia's Barren Plain. Well, once it had been the Plain of Gold, Arcadia's finest growing place of good thoughts. Now it was a battlefield. In front of them, the daleks and the Time Lords waged war. He shot two daleks in quick succession with his plasma blaster as he sprinted for the Time Lord line. Two new gaping black holes ripped open in the already dilapidated ground where they had been standing. He leapt over the pile of twisted, scrap dalek metal, careful not to let it touch him. Even dead, it might still be able to transmit his DNA. And that would be disastrous.<p>

They were returning from behind dalek ranks, their advance covered by the three Time Lord battalions currently engaging the daleks. The dalek ships had already arrived and were raining lasers and missiles on the mayhem. A maddening chorus of 'exterminate' filled the air between the explosions. From the Time Lord side came a volley of blasts, bullets and grenades, accompanied by the rallying yells and the screaming of regenerations. They had no air support. Not yet.

He glanced over at her. She was ahead of him a little ways because her primary focus was only speed, not attack. She slid her thin form between two daleks with about as much commotion as a breeze. Before they even realized she was there, she had leapt the hill and vanished out of sight below them. He shot them anyway and leapt after her.

They slid down the steep bank together, diving straight into the thick of the fighting on the plain. A plasma grenade went off just behind them, close enough to singe his jacket. A little too close. His eyes went to his companion even as he stumbled.

The blast knocked her off her feet but she got her hands under her and was up and running again without even falling to the ground.

She was agile, he'd give her that. Even without the enhancers he'd built into her clothes. She slid past enemies before they even realized she was there. Where others saw a wall, she saw openings. 100 years as a spritely child caught in a constant fight for survival would do that to you. That would make her what… 116 now? Give or take? He supposed he was 100 years older as well. Not that it mattered. What was another 100 years to a man who could live for thousands?

In a way, he supposed she was still aging. Only it never showed in her face or body. She never grew taller, or smarter for that matter. Her legs remained too long for her, her eyes just a little too large, her mind too weak for the things she could see. She had been writing in that damn book for far too long, adding pages as she ran out. She kept it in her right breast pocket, opposite the hueon pen he had designed just for her.

She dodged a plasma blast and ran up and off of a pile of scrap in order to clear the next line of daleks. He covered her with a grenade.

In the early years of the war, she had once asked him: "If I could escape? Would I age again?"

"You might." He had replied. "Or all 100 years would catch up with you all at once. No one's ever escaped a time lock, there's no way of knowing."

He was broken out of his thoughts by the approach of the front line of daleks. They knew that he and the girl were approaching. Half of them were spinning to take them out.

He ripped a grenade from his belt. "Shockwave!" He yelled, more for his own benefit than hers. She was already past them, making a dash for the Time Lord line. Nonetheless he waited until he saw that her fingers were in her ears before throwing the explosive. The shockwave grenade was a weapon he had invented sometime ago that the military hadn't gotten its hands on until very recently. Because of that, he was the only soldier who carried them. Good thing too.

The grenade went off with a pitiful explosion but a crippling shockwave quickly followed. The daleks closest to it were torn to shreds, all the rest within a 300 meter radius reeled from the noise and force. Up ahead, the girl winced but kept running. Human ears. So weak.

He dashed past the destruction and followed her into the Time Lord battalion's front line.

The going was much easier now that he didn't have to shoot every spare moment and keep a constant eye about. He put on speed and easily caught up with her as they reached the mid-station supplies.

She kicked at the weapons supply barrel as she ran past and a bowship rifle shot out of it and up into the air. She snatched it as she ran past. Just ahead was the ammunition cart, defended as always by the Supplier.

"Oi there! Look out behind ya, there's… what the..?" His warning was cut short as the girl reached him and crouched low to avoid the muzzle of his rifle.

She slid past him without a word, plucking a fresh laser generator cartridge from his belt as she went, not a single motion wasted. Before she was back on her feet, she had the weapon in her grip loaded and primed. She skidded to a halt and spun on her heel, taking out a descending dalek more by luck then by aim.

The Architect whirled around and fired off three shots, taking out three more daleks descending from above.

"Your Tool isn't authorized to handle that weapon." The Supplier told the Architect.

"Duck!" The girl yelled. Both men dropped as she fired several laser spears into the air above their heads. One pierced a dalek's eyestalk, another stabbed straight through the dalek equivalent of a neck. Dead, the creatures dropped soundlessly to the earth.

The Architect pulled the Supplier back onto his feet. The man nodded his thanks. "I won't… tell anyone…" He said.

The Architect winked at him, ignoring the cheeky grin from the girl.

"More are coming down from the ships…" The Supplier informed him as the three took up a defensive position. The Architect tossed his weapon behind him. Two seconds later it was back in his hand, loaded and primed with the new power pack the girl had installed for him.

He fired off a volley of shoots and ducked to avoid the smoking pieces of metal that fell. "Any sign of Air Support?" He asked when he could finally uncover his head.

The Supplier fired his own bowship rifle, nailing three daleks. "No." He told the Architect. "But we can hold them here, you get going! Get that thing to your squadron!"

Typical. Air Support was late so it came down to the foot soldiers. "I can help here," He protested as he shot down another dalek. "I've still got one shockwave grenade left, it can take them out before they land and stall the remainder…"

The Supplier reloaded before answering. "Very well then, I'll see what I've got to help you launch it."

The Architect turned to the supply barrel and kicked it twice. A battalion battlefield supply pack sprung out. He held it out towards to the girl. "Now, take these and get to rendezvous." he told her, unhooking the detonators from his jacket.

"Aren't you coming?" She asked in that stupid earth accent he'd never trained out of her.

He looped the detonators around her arm to avoid looking at her. "Keep moving." He shoved the supply pack into her hands and gave her a push. She didn't leave. She wanted to disobey, he could tell. She wanted to stay and try to help him. She didn't want to leave him behind. 116 and still her first impulse was to disobey him. But he ignored her. She would obey him. She always did because she knew she would die if she didn't. The Time War was unforgiving.

"Be careful." She finally said. "We need you." Then she turned and began running again.

He turned back to the Supplier. "Right, what have you got for me?"

"Oh never mind your grenade." The Supplier said, placing the butt of his rifle in the dirt and leaning on it. He jabbed a finger at the sky. "Air Support is finally here."

He looked up just as the onslaught of mental messages hit. Above his head, TARDISs whirled by, engaging the falling daleks before they could reach the ground. They were clear, he could move on. No point in using the grenade now, it would hurt more than it would help. The Architect felt his throat make a strange, jerking motion as he gazed up at the attack. Among all the sleek, decked out war-model TARDISs, flew a small blue box.

* * *

><p>"We were wondering where you got to soldier." The Commander said as he and the girl slid to a stop at the rendezvous point. As usual, the Commander gave no hint of recognition for the girl; she was little more than a tool.<p>

"I had some tools to pick up. Namely…" He brandished his screwdriver. The girl began rummaging through the supply pack she had picked up, pulling out energy pellets and hydrators for the rest of the battalion. The soldiers all took their rations without a word or even a nod of thanks.

The Commander nodded his approval. "How soon can you get those deployed?" He asked the Architect.

He detached the ring of explosives from his jacket and pulled the trigger tube out of the circle. "Soon as I have two minutes to reset the detonator." He got right to work.

"Good, the daleks are falling back." The Commander informed him as he worked and the girl continued to pass out rations. "We'll send out the evacuation signal, get everyone else out so we can set the detonators."

"I'll send out the signal sir." Said the Detector, swallowing the last of his hydrator. Finished handing out rations, the girl retreated silently to her place beside the Architect. He handed her his screwdriver so that he could use his programming tweezers. Lords did he hate wartime scarcities. He would give up his plasma blaster for a good set of programming clamps right now.

"I'm working out our attack pattern now sir." Said the Librarian from his vantage point beside the Hacker. The Commander nodded approval.

The Time Lord Battalion #1203 Special Task Force Arcadia Division was gathered on the far edge of Arcadia's Barrens, just outside the ancient Power Factory on top of Forgotten Hill, the place where good dreams became fuel and bad dreams were buried by the hundreds to be forgotten. Also, the perfect source of energy for a hungry, expanding dalek fleet.

Their squad was small, consisting of only 8: the Commander and his right hand man the Sniper, the Librarian in charge of strategy, the Hacker for security dismantling, the Detector for communications, the Spy for information science, The Architect and his girl for weapons maintenance.

But their purpose here was of the utmost importance.

"What does the security look like?" The Commander asked.

The Hacker pounded a few keys in her Cracker, a modified gift from the team's weapons maintenance crew. "Easily crackable." She said, holding the Cracker up so it could get a good scan of the building. "Keep in mind, the fuel is only explosive if first exposed to an electric shock. So we have to send a pulse through the fuses before we can blow it."

"How do we do that?" Asked the Sniper, playing with his prized bowship rifle.

The Hacker held up the Cracker so the rest of the battalion could see the scan. "Should be easy enough with a pulse gun, all we have to do it take down the shield and overload the system. One good shot will do. Or even just the shockwave from a plasma grenade. Any charge more powerful than that could be catastrophic."

The Librarian frowned. "How so?"

"Well, the fuel accumulates charges." The Hacker explained, pulling up a diagnostic. "So the greater the shock provided, the more charges it will have, the bigger the explosion."

"The troops are moving out." The Detector informed the Commander. "We can commence operation."

He nodded. "Hacker. How soon can you get that security down?"

"Give me a couple of minutes and the pulse gun and I can beam the signal right to the mainframe."

The Commander turned to the Architect.

"How are those detonators looking, Architect?"

"Nearly there sir." He replied as he soniced the casing back on to the trigger tube. All he had to do was wire the trigger for long-range detonation then arm the device. But as he tucked his screwdriver away to get at his amplifier, he heard a whimper. It was no louder than a breath but he knew that sound anywhere.

He glanced to his side. The girl was trembling and biting her lip so hard, a small bubble of blood was forming. Her hand twitched towards her right pocket. She was having a vision.

Detonators forgotten, he turned to her.

"What is it?" He whispered. "What do you see?"

Through the tinted eyepieces of the glasses, he could see her pupils dilating. "I… I… I'm going to… fall… falling… Arcadia…"

"Is she alright?" The Spy asked as the girl fell to the ground, twitching. The Architect was beside her in a dual heartbeat, his fingers reaching for her temples.

"No!" She swatted his hands away. "I… I have to see… I…"

She rocked back and forth, moaning. "Light… pain… falling… fail… FAIL! Death dying… light….. burning!" Torn between learning what she meant and saving her from the agony, the Architect watched. She twisted and shouted but in her native Earth language, not Gallfreian.

The Commander loomed over him. "Is she sick? Should we…?"

"She's having a fit." The Architect replied. "It happens occasionally. Don't touch her!" He warned as the Detector made a move to grab the girl's shoulders to hold her still. "She'll probably bite you. Let me." He reached for her temples. He never made it.

Suddenly, she sat bolt upright. "They're coming. They're here."

Before anyone else could react, a dalek ray shot out of nowhere and pulverized the ground at the Hacker's feet. She jumped backwards.

The entire battalion watched as what must have been two dalek squadrons crested the hill.

"Exterminate. Exterminate."

"Make for the courtyard!" The Commander yelled, pulling his weapon. "Hacker get that shield down! Librarian, arm the detonators! The rest of you defend!"

In the confusion of a defended retreat, the Architect lost sight of the girl. The frazzled battalion raced around the outer wall of the power station and down the slight incline towards the building itself. But before they could reach the building they had to cross the graveyard. The place where all those bad dreams were buried.

The daleks reached the outer wall just as the battalion reached level ground.

"Open fire!" Shouted the Commander. It was then that the Architect noticed the girl. She was beside the Commander, bowship rifle to her shoulder. She showed no sign of recoil from her fit.

The volley of plasma blasts and laser spears took out eight of the first ten daleks before they crossed the outer wall boundary. But more quickly filled the empty places in line.

The Architect's back hit the power station wall and he took a moment to look up at the stone above him. Then a dalek ray blasted the rock apart two inches from his nose and he was drawn back into the fight.

"The Time Lords will surrender! The Time Lords will be exterminated!"

The Commander took out a dalek with his blaster. "Then why the hell would we bother surrendering? Hacker! Now!" The Time Lady took aim up the wall and fired the pulse gun. The rippling wave vanished inside the power station.

"Security is off-line!" She called.

"Librarian! Get those detonators in place!" The Commander shouted.

No one could quite tell what happened next, all the Architect knew was that he fired his gun at the same moment the Spy tossed a plasma grenade at the same moment about five daleks all fired. Then someone screamed.

"My leg!" It was the Librarian. He was staggering away from the wall, his right leg as limp and lifeless as a piece of cloth. The detonators clattered to the ground.

The Architect dropped his blaster as it burned his fingers. It had taken the full blast of a dalek ray. His precious gun was dead.

No matter how fast they shot, the daleks were advancing faster. They were on the burial ground now.

"We can't hold them sir!" The Sniper shouted as he nailed a dalek through the eyestalk. He ducked as the one that took its place shot at his head.

The Commander was gritting his teeth, looking between the daleks and the wall behind them. "Fall back!" He finally commanded.

"We can't!" The Detector shouted as he reloaded his blaster. "They've got us cornered!"

The Commander scooped up the detonators from the ground and got his free hand around the Librarian to support his injured leg. But he said nothing. He made no move forward.

The Architect looked around. Daleks in front, wall behind. They were trapped. Backs against the wall. No way out.

"Run for the hill." The Commander and the Architect both turned in shock at the voice.

"Run for the hill." The girl said again. She opened her palm to show them what she was holding.

The Architect drew in a sharp breath as he saw what was in it. Of course… her last grenade. The one she'd never use unless absolutely necessary.

"You heard her, run!" He yelled, pushing the Sniper and the Detector forward. He gave the Commander a shove that he would have relished under less severe circumstances. "Keep shooting and run!" They took off, charging the first line of daleks. He turned back to her. Not quickly enough.

She popped the pin and threw it towards the daleks in front of them. Then she fell to the ground, her hands on her ears.

* * *

><p>He didn't know how she ended up in his arms but the next thing he knew his feet were sliding on the hill and he was gently placing her down on the dirt.<p>

"That… that did the trick didn't it?" She asked, with a hint of a smile.

He slapped her but not with as much force as he wanted too. "That was stupid." He told her. The others in the battalion were racing around the wall. It appeared everyone had survived the attack but several were wounded and most of their weapons were gone. The Sniper had a nasty cut along his left cheek but was still holding his rifle. The Hacker was trying to staunch the blood flowing from her right hand. The Librarian was still holding on to his dying body, gasping for breath and dragging his useless right leg behind him. The girl picked herself up and went to him with the supply pack but he shoved her away. He would regenerate rather than try to be healed.

The Commander (who by some miracle had only a dirty uniform as a battle-scar) informed them of the situation: "We'll have to abandon the mission."

"But sir, we…" The Spy's protest was cut off by a raised hand.

"All we have left are the detonators." The Commander said, holding up the ring of explosives he had managed to snatch up in the confusion. "The shockwave took out a good number of them but there's still no way we can charge back in there and survive long enough to get the detonators in place. Even if someone were to do that, there's probably enough to take out this squadron plus the one needed for the fuse box as long as they're spaced correctly. But they'd have to be touching the daleks to do any real damage…"

"But how?" The Sniper exclaimed. "We can't touch them! If they get Time Lord DNA…."

The girl glanced to the Architect. He met her gaze. Very subtly he nodded. The rest of the soldiers' conversation went unheard as he watched her.

For a brief moment, her chin fell to her chest. She drew in a deep breath before raising it again. The gun and supply pack were shrugged off her shoulders and placed gently on the ground. The jacket was next, her prized pen in its pocket. The glasses quickly joined it. She kept the necklace. It was the one thing she would never abandon. Without glancing in his direction, she nodded. She was ready.

He turned to the whispering men. "Commander." The man turned to face him.

"What is it?" The Commander asked, his face hard with resolve. In one hand was the ring of detonators in the other his comm. Their air support had already been called in. They were going to abandon it.

He took a deep breath. "I have a plan. We can take out this squadron and complete our mission while making it out alive."

The Commander's brow furrowed in confusion. "How?"

Out of nowhere, she dashed forward and snatched the ring of explosives from the Commander's hand.

"Hey! What…? Tool!" The startled Commander made a grab for her. But she was gone, leaping over the hilltop and vanishing into the graveyard of dreams.

The Architect scooped up the discarded jacket. "Come on!" The rest of the battalion broke and ran for the pick-up location, the Sniper with the Librarian thrown over his shoulder. The Commander was running but still glancing over his shoulder at the child taking on the battalion of daleks.

"But… that… with the amount of charge provided by that grenade… that explosion is going to be…" While the Commander figured out what the Architect already knew, The Architect pressed the call button for him. "Air Support? We're ready."

The TARDISs descended upon the group as they reached the flat stretch of the Barren Plains and the squadron quickly filed in, the Architect making sure the ship he hopped on wasn't a blue Earth phone box. As the rest of his squadron got into flying positions, he looked back to the power station.

* * *

><p>The explosives were cold and heavy in her hands. Her legs burned from the speed at which she was running. Their cries of <em>exterminate!<em> warned her and she dodged left, their shots missing her by less than a foot. Before they could re-aim, she had reached their front line. Her fingers flicked two explosives free and she sprang upwards.

She leapt over the leading Daleks, her hands slapping down on their shiny metal hoods, placing the explosives in place. Her hands burned as she pushed off of them to keep moving. Where her hands touched them, the metal glowed orange. The creatures faltered momentarily as they came in contact with new information. New DNA. She rolled as she hit the ground and sprang to a low crouch. Pivoting on the balls of her feet, her hands flew out to set new bombs on the next set of creatures.

The voices in her head warned her and she rolled forwards as the next line tried to fire, once again dodging death by inches. Her dive took her in between two daleks and she slapped another explosive in place. She came to a stop in front of the battalion leader. His weapon jumped right to her but again, she was too quick. She leapt into the air and flipped over the dalek's head. While still in the air, her hand flew down and slapped the explosive onto the cold metal shell. The monster's eye tried to follow her path and failed as she landed behind it, skidding to a stop against the power station's wall.

Slowly, the dalek battalion commander turned to face her.

"You are not Time Lord… you are not Dalek…. You… you…." It was shaking, trying to process this new information. It had touched DNA it had never known before. DNA that was primal and young. Vital, bursting with energy and potential. Different. Dangerous. DNA it needed.

It raised its weapon. "EXTERMINATE!"

She slapped the final circle onto the powergrid feed and flicked the detonator open revealing the trigger button inside. Exactly the same way she had seen herself do it in her vision. "Don't count on that saving you…"

* * *

><p>As they left the ground and sped away towards freedom, the Architect was grabbed from behind and spun around. The Commander punched him square in the jaw.<p>

"Blowing up an entire planet. An entire civilization, ruined! Reduced to ashes!" He socked the Architect again as he tried to get back to his feet. "That's what you've done here, Architect! You and your Tool."

Hesitantly, the Architect rose to his feet again only to be grabbed forcefully and pushed against the wall.

"And on top of that, she's ruining everything else as we speak!" He hissed in the wounded man's ear. "Now they have our DNA! If any dalek comes in contact with any Time Lord DNA they can extrapolate it and regenerate endlessly!" The Commander released him, looking disgusted.

The Architect wiped the trickle of blood from his chin and smiled drily at the jacket still clutched in his hand. "Good thing she's not a Time Lord then…" He glanced up at his stunned commanding officer. "And her name is no longer the Tool. I renamed her…"

* * *

><p>Far away, the Scribe smiled and clicked the button.<p> 


	12. New Adventures

Short but hopefully sweet. Just setting the tone for the rest of the Doctor-Rose arc of this story and giving a little distance before revealing the fate of Ksenia.

* * *

><p><em>New Adventures<em>

He squinted upward into the dark. "This isn't snow, it's ash."

"Okay not so beautiful." Rose admitted, folding her arms and peering into the fall of ashes from the destroyed ship. Jackie and Mickey were silent.

"This is a brand new planet Earth." He said after a moment's silence. "No denying the existence of aliens now, everyone saw it." He turned to Rose. "Everything's new." This body was so different from his last one. It liked to tease. It's mind changed so rapidly, so unexpectedly. Its emotions were… stronger.

"And what 'bout you?" Rose asked, fidgeting slightly under his gaze. "What are you gonna do next?"

"Well…" He glanced over his shoulder at the blue box. "back to the TARDIS. Same old life."

"On your own?" Rose asked.  
>"Why don't you want to come?"<p>

She smiled. "Well… yeah."

His left heart beat faster in anticipation. "Do you though?"

"Yeah!" She exclaimed with one of her wide, toothy smiles.

"Well I just thought… cause I changed…" Because he was no longer the same man, the one who had taken her hand and led her on so many adventures, the one who had saved her life and been saved by her.

"Yeah… I thought cause you changed, you might not want me anymore." Rose was saying.

"Oh no, I'd love you to come!" His face split into a wide smile that she quickly mirrored.

"Okay!"

"You're never gonna stay are you?"

They both turned to Mickey. But there was no anger in his gaze. Only acceptance.

"There's just so much out there." Rose told him. "So much to see, I've got to."

Mickey nodded. "Yeah."

He didn't want to feel like he'd just stolen Rose away from Mickey forever but he couldn't help that small flare of happiness that glowed between his hearts. She chose him. She wanted to be with him.

Jackie spoke up from behind them. "Well I reckon you're mad, the pair of you. It's like you go looking for trouble!"

This body was restless too. He was at Jackie's side in the blink of an eye. "Trouble's just the bits in between! It's all waiting out there Jackie, and it's brand new to me. All those planets, creatures and horizons, I haven't seen them yet! Not with these eyes!"

He walked slowly back to Rose's side. "And it is gonna be…" He glanced at her and smiled. "Fantastic."

She smiled back and he knew everything was alright. He was still her Doctor.

He extended his right hand towards hers.

"That hand of your still gives me the creeps." She giggled.

He wiggled his fingers. Nothing wrong with this hand. Oh no, this hand was perfectly insane. Just like him. Gently, Rose slid her hand into his and squeezed tight.

Their hands still fit perfectly together. He still belonged with her. The realization not only made him happy but filled him with dread. Rose was watching the sky as he watched her. This could be dangerous. The universe had a way of ripping away everything close to him. It had already tried with Rose. Both his hearts flared. He would always protect her. Nothing would come between him and his Rose ever again.

"So, where are we gonna go first?" Rose asked him breaking him out of his thoughts.

Maybe Felspoon? That was always a good place even in this day and age.

He hesitated, examining the sky. So many options. So many new and old places he wanted to see with this face. With Rose. "Umm…" He raised his free hand and pointed. "that way… no hold on…" He pointed in a different direction. "that way…" He knew just the place. Another new Earth.

"That way?" Rose asked following his gaze.

"See it?" He asked.

Rose nodded. "Yeah." She agreed. "That way."

He grinned at her.

So here it was. The start of a brave new adventure with his companion, Rose Tyler.


	13. The Time of Reckoning

Sorry for the delay but… at least I'm updating now…?

Song for this chapter: _The Greatest Story Never Told _(Series 4 soundtrack)

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><p><em>The Time of Reckoning<em>

It was all ash.

He kicked his way through a thick pile, passing the remainder of the stone wall they had hidden behind.

Ironic, he had saved her from a future of death by ash and here she was, buried in it again. He kicked another pile, searching. Still nothing.

He entered the desolated courtyard, passing the empty shell of a scorched dalek. There were several others in the yard, some still standing but most in pieces or fallen to the ashes. The building itself was barely more than a shell, hanging over the battlefield, scattered from the explosion.

It had taken two days for the radiation from the explosion on Arcadia to reach a tolerable level, another day to clear the skies and land enough to search for survivors. And all that time, he'd been waiting, his expectations wearing away.

A few soldiers who hadn't managed to escape the blast stumbled from the rubble, testing their new legs and feeling their new faces to get an idea of what they were like now. But he wasn't looking for them. He was searching the ground. He kicked another pile but still nothing.

His hand curled into a fist. Why was he here? He knew what had happened. The only thing that could happen. She had been incinerated by the detonation. He was breathing her in, kicking her with every step. Her chances of surviving were less than a fraction of a percent. She was gone.

He had reached the ruins of the building where one final thick carpet of ashes had built up against the surviving stones of the wall. His knees fell to the ashes. There was no chance she was alive. She should have been right here, right where he was kneeling. And there was nothing. No longer thinking, he reached forward and began to brush the carpet aside.

A face appeared.

He brushed faster. A neck. A chest. Shoulders. Of course. Because she had survived all this time against impossible odds, why not here? Everything else, including the daleks had been reduced to ash but of course not her. His movements were mechanical but had now taken on a hint of panic as more and more of the body was uncovered.

_Please… please._

Her hair was gone right down to the eyebrows, burned away in the explosion. The left half of her face was entirely stripped of skin, a bit of bone was exposed near her nose. The skin along her neck, right down to her left arm was burned and peeling too. Any scrap of clothing she had been wearing was long gone. Save one piece.

The necklace lay flat on her chest but it was so covered in blood and ash it was indiscernible from her burned and bloody skin. He only saw it because he was looking for it.

Only when she was free did he sit back slightly and allow a tiny smile to come over him. Impossible odds, thwarted again. That was his Scribe. He crouched down next to her and buried his hands into the ashes under her. With a gentle heave, he pulled her free. The ashes cascaded from his grip as he stood up. Her arms were folded over her stomach but her tiny scorched legs dangled from his hold, shaking like streamers as he turned and began to walk away.

It was too much to hope that his discovery would go unnoticed. He had barely made it past the remains of the outer wall when another searcher came running up to him.

"Soldier! What is that?" The man called.

He just kept walking. "A survivor." He didn't even try to shield her. There was no point.

The other reached out, probing the minds around him. He encountered nothing from the crispy body in the Architect's arms. Or rather, he encountered something he had not ever expected to encounter. He stumbled backwards. "Is… is that a human?"

"Yes." He walked right past the man, heading for the search and rescue ship.

"What's a human doing here?" The other was following him, trying to get a good look at the body while keeping up with the Architect's brisk pace.

"Long story."

"What are you doing?" He asked as the Architect continued his march, clutching the body tightly to him.

"Go away."

The man run to catch up and placed a gentle, restraining hand on his arm. "Architect…" he said to him. "you know it's dead."

The gaze he gave the other Time Lord was cold and hard. A strong wind blew across the empty surface of the destroyed planet sending ashes whirling in a blinding storm.

"No." He said. "She isn't."

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><p>Travel was difficult with the war as all the TARDISs had been drafted for fighting on distant worlds. But the Council had its own private fleet which was used exclusively for emergency meetings and for the trials of war criminals. He was pretty sure he didn't count as a war criminal. After all, the actual 'crime' of bringing a lower species to Gallifrey had taken place over a century ago.<p>

And yet, and yet.

"What is the meaning of this? A _human?_ Why are we being bothered about a human?"

"My Lord President," He implored, bowing his head and forcibly stopping himself from gritting his teeth. "This is all being blown way out of proportion. This child is not a trafficked slave or a criminal…"

"I know that Lord Architect." Rassilon interrupted. His gloved hand clenched and the Architect flinched in spite of himself. "That is not my concern." The President continued, tapping his staff on the ground with a clang. "We have other things to worry about. The Moment, for example which it appears your no-good brother has stolen. The Emperor for another. A book of 'prophecies' and a dead human are of little concern to us."

The Council was gathered in the Hall of Condemnation, the Lords and Ladies seated on the raised pedestal that allowed them to observe the entire floor at once. The naked, burned, broken body was splayed on the long table below them. All the Councilors were sneaking glances at her that were equal parts fascination, shame and disgust. He was standing behind the table, his hands gripping the edge to stop himself from trying to run or cover her. But at the President's mention of the Moment, his grip relaxed slightly in shock.

"With all due respect Lord President," Said a Councilman, bowing his head slightly. "This… _human_, did prevent a vital operation by the daleks. If they had gotten hold of that power source…"

"She also destroyed an entire planet. This is what happens when lower species enter a war."

His thoughts had been focused on the President's comment about his brother. How could he have possibly gotten hold of the Moment? The most heavily guarded weapon in the universe? But at the President's last comment, he forced his thoughts away from his brother. He'd get more information on that later. "She's just one human, Lord President, with no connect to her home." Getting her functional again was all he should focus on right now. Moment or no Moment, this had to work. "She's only been here a little over a hundred years and all that time she has been under my care and supervision…"

"And now her death and the Fall of Arcadia rest on your shoulders, congratulations Architect." The spite and contempt in the President's voice made his blood boil.

"She's _not _dead!" He roared, his voice echoing off the high rafters.

There was a moment of tense silence.

"What?" The Judge cautiously spoke up, looking from the Architect to the girl and back again.

"She's not dead." He repeated in a more controlled voice.

"That's not possible," Another Council member, the Vice President reasoned. "not even a Time Lord could survive that level of radiation without at least two regenerations…"

"I didn't say she survived." He interrupted, knowing he was treading on fragile ground. "I just said she's still alive."

"What do you mean?"

He turned to the Vice President and extended one hand towards the body. "All her vitals have stopped sir. But her brain activity is still functioning. It would be possible for me to revive her, given time and the proper equipment." He turned to Rassilon, who was now observing the proceedings with a look of stunned fascination. "Let me save her." He petitioned the President. "You owe her that much for what she sacrificed on Arcadia."

Rassilon considered the request, leaning back in his chair. The Architect watched with shallow breaths as the President reached for the small book on the table before him and flipped casually through it. When he reached the end, he leaned forward and peered once again at the body on the table. His eyes roamed her entire surface carefully as if taking in every cut and burn or trying to read her timeline. The Architect resisted the urge to check her mental blockade. Finally, after what seemed like millennia, Rassilon sat back in his chair and gestured with his glove. "You get two days in the Recovery Unit. That is all."

Knowing he would get no more, the Architect bowed stiffly and picked up the body again. Then he left the room to begin his work.

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><p>As agreed, exactly two days later, he returned to the Council in the Hall of Condemnation. The body was once again stretched out on the table before them. Only this time they allowed her the decency of a gown.<p>

Rassilon leaned forward. "Well?" He had the little black book clutched tightly in his gloved hand. His eyes sparkled hungrily as he looked at the human before the Council.

The Architect looked up at him. "She's alive." She was breathing again, and her heartbeat was strong. Her skin was still an angry red but he'd cleaned her up a little: re-growing some of the damaged skin and muscle on her left side, resetting her broken bones. The necklace was hidden under the gown.

Rassalion sat back. "Then wake her." He commanded. The other Council members nodded in agreement, some of them leaning forward eagerly.

He placed a single finger on her chest right over where the necklace was, concealing the bump it made from view. "I can't." He said truthfully. "The process and technology I used to revive and repair her is delicate. It takes a long time to work completely. She might not wake up for another year."

Rassilon leaned forward, peering once again at the human child, his gloved hand tapping on the stone in front of him.

He did not remove his finger from its place on the necklace. He did not even breathe.

"Very well." The President finally said, sitting back. "You are both hereby banished from Gallifrey. Leave now. Never return."

He had expected as much. With a bow, he stood.

Then he left the room, the Scribe's limp body clutched gently in his arms.

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><p>"Lord President."<p>

Rassilon turned to the Vice President. "What is it?"

The man inclined his head respectfully. "Is it true sir? What this human wrote in the book?"

Despite his low tone, the Judge overheard. "Is it possible for a human to stare into untempered time and survive, let alone have prophecies of our future?" He asked in a louder voice, drawing the attention of the other Council members who abruptly ceased their quiet conversations to listen in.

The President fingered the volume in question, his fingers finding the page he feared most by habit. The words drawn there danced across his every waking and sleeping moment, he knew them by heart and they terrified him. But all he said was: "Apparently."

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><p>Asteroid Delta 1203 was one of the more luxurious way points on the road to banishment. It sat right on top of the largest rift of time energy in the star system. Exiled Time Lords often stopped here to refuel or repair before beginning their lives away from Gallifrey. He expected his brother had stayed here for awhile when his third body had been banished. Of course, he'd been able to go further away. With the Time Lock still intact, they would not be going anywhere soon.<p>

The workshop he'd found was small and rudimentary, possessing very little in the way of tools and equipment. But he had a strong power supply and his sonic screwdriver. It would have to be enough.

He moved around the room with difficulty, connecting cables and turning on machines, checking readings and adjusting settings. Every few seconds he would glance between the body on the table and the box in the corner. With the addition of his TARDIS, the room was half its original size.

Being chased for stealing it from the war repair yard was the least of his worries right now. If the rumors in the capital were true, it was the least of anyone's concern right now. He checked his watch as he plugged the final cable in place. A few more hours… barely enough time.

He doubled checked everything one last time. That the cables were all attached correctly. The machines set correctly. The items laid out on the spare table in the corner. The switch was set. His screwdriver was in his hand, ready to adjust if anything started to go wrong. He nodded stiffly to himself. Now all he needed was the Moment.

When he was satisfied, he finally looked down at his Scribe. He placed a gentle hand on her forehead. She still had not woken up since the battle. But she was still alive. She could not die. Not now.

"I'm finally giving you what you always wanted…" He said, his grip tightening around her head slightly. "… a second heart."

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><p>Sorry for any inaccuracies. I haven't watched a lot of Classic Who so any missing or wrong references are entirely a result of my laziness.<p> 


	14. Forever Alone

Another short Doctor-Rose one, just to keep you all interested. Don't worry, the two story lines will cross soon!

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><p>Chapter 13: Forever Alone<p>

Rose finally managed to corner the Doctor alone when Mickey and that woman Sarah Jane went to carry the tin dog back out to the car.

"How many of us have there been? Traveling with you?" She demanded of him as he pulled his coat back on. She could tell by the immediate stiffening of his shoulders that he didn't want to talk about this. Pulling the collar down, he turned his back and walked out of the café.

"Does it matter?" He asked over his shoulder, trying to sound casual. She followed right behind him.

"Yeah, it does if I'm just the latest in a long line."

He whirled around to face her. "As opposed to what?" He snapped. Rose stumbled to a halt but he didn't look angry. More like… upset. Anxious.

"I thought you and me were…" She began but found she could not even finish the thought. How could she ever have thought that she could mean that much to him? That this relationship meant as much to him as it did to her? The man who could travel anywhere, do anything, be anyone. "Well I obviously got it wrong." She finally managed to finish.

The Doctor couldn't seem to look at her, he kept glancing away with that same look on his face. Something that was not quite sadness and not quite anger that had settled in his eyes and around his mouth.

"I've been to the year 5 billion but this, this is really seeing the future, you just leave us behind." Rose continued as he looked in yet another direction that was not her. Her throat tightened. "Is that what you're going to do to me?" She asked. Was she to become just another face in his memory?

"No," He said, his eyes immediately shooting up to lock with hers. "not to you." But he still looked disturbed, unsure.

"But Sarah Jane, you were that close to her once and now…" She saw a flicker of fear pass through his eyes. "…you never even mention her." She hadn't thought it could be possible to feel sorry for Sarah Jane. But now she was starting to understand. "Why not?" To be left alone after all those adventures with him… if that happened to her, she didn't think she'd be able to cope. What if he left her behind and never again mentioned her name? Would someone else take her place? Another young woman who would know neither the name Sarah Jane Smith nor Rose Tyler?

"I don't age." The Doctor replied in a very serious voice. "I regenerate. But humans decay. You wither and you die. Imagine watching that happen to someone you…" He broke off suddenly, the look in his eyes deepening to unfathomable emotional turmoil. She couldn't tell what he was feeling in that moment.

"What, Doctor?" What was he saying? That when the time came, he'd leave her simply because he didn't want to watch her die? That he… was he saying he loved her too much to think of her dying?

She briefly saw that fear flicker through him again. He took a quiet breath before replying. "You could spend the rest of your life with me." He said carefully. Rose felt stuck, unable to speak. "But I can't spend the rest of mine with you…" Her eyes stung. "I have to live on, alone." He said the word with loathing, dismay and the heavy knowledge that it was inevitable. "That's the curse of the Time Lords." Rose felt her heart clench. It wasn't often with this new body that she was reminded just how damaged he was. Her first Doctor had let all the cracks show, he'd smoothed the edges with humor but he'd never denied the pain he felt. But this body, this one had seemed to erase all that. It was bold and intense, happy and lighter. Whole.

But now she saw. The cracks hadn't healed. They were still there. They'd always be there, no matter how he changed or what he did to hide them. He'd been pretending for her sake that that pain was gone.

Of course. After all, he was over 900. And she was barely two decades old, a baby in his eyes. He'd seen so much more, carried so much more pain and loss than she could comprehend. What was she thinking; that they'd find some way to stop her aging? That time travel could go on forever? She would never want to leave him, of that she was certain. But what if his next face, his next body didn't want her? What if one day he decided it was time to say goodbye?

What would her life be without the Doctor?


End file.
